


an unearthly child

by thisprentiss



Series: Classic Who "Reboot" Season 1 [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Canon Dialogue, F/F, Recasting, Rewrite, Time Travel, also ian is now jan bc i couldnt figure out a good way to abbreviate a female name to ian, anywhomst dont roast me for this im just a gay trying to have a good time!, like most of the dialogue is from the actual unearthly child script? i took a few liberties but yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-02-08 16:13:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12868242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisprentiss/pseuds/thisprentiss
Summary: some mild curiosity in a junkyard turns the lives of schoolteachers barbara wright and janice chesterton upside downaka the most self indulgent thing i've ever written





	1. An Unearthly Child

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! im ready to be roasted for this (except that im not) but if u follow me on tungle @lesbiantwelve u have probably seen my shitty recast of all of classic who (if u haven't............lucky u)  
> here's the cast for this first chapter (updated bc i changed some of the fancastings):  
> https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1096DNXINsNHzYWHNGkMGbGVhEgrimCCFDSGGdU3CfRQ/edit?usp=sharing  
> im probably gonna continue just bc im Like That (the worst)
> 
> anywhomst this is LITERALLY just an unearthly child but in "book" format. with female ian. and a female doctor. and a little bit of added dialogue. bplease enjoy!!

"You can get your essay off my desk once class is finished. And don't forget, next week we-"

_Rrrrrrrrinnngggg!_

The students were up out of their seats with their books and bags in their arms before the bell had even finished ringing.

Barbara's words died on her lips and she put her chalk down, knowing there was no point in trying to remind her students about the test next week if none of them were listening. Chatting with one another, they grabbed their graded essays off her desk with awkward smiles in her direction.

"Night, Miss Wright," Jackie, one of the girls, said, smacking her friend with her paper when she giggled and called her a teacher's pet. They walked off, and suddenly Barbara was being stared down by an elfish girl in a grey sweater.

"You're loaning me that book, yes, Miss Wright?" she asked, and Barbara nodded, pushing Susan's essay toward her.

"Right, yes. Better work on this than last time, Susan."

Susan gave her a shy smile. "Thank you, Miss Wright. I do try to do my best."

"Mm. Keep up the good work," Barbara edged out from behind her desk and headed toward the door, pausing half way, "I'll go fetch the book from the teacher's lounge. That alright?"

"Of course," Susan smiled, tucking her essay into her bag, "Shall I come with you?"

Barbara shook her head, holding the door open with her hip. "Wait in here, please, Susan. I won't be long."

She headed out into the hall, passing several more of her students who were lingering to gossip, compare grades, whatever kids did these days after school let out. Some of them said goodnight to her. Most just gave her pleasant smiles.

The crowds of kids thinned out as she approached the science wing; not as many lockers over this way. Barbara knew this part of the building like she knew the back of her hand, not that she'd ever admit to how much she visits it. She passed the school bulletin board and pushed into the chemistry lab, smiling when she saw Jan hunched over papers at one of the lab tables.

She obviously hadn't started cleaning up what the students had left over from class yet, engrossed in what she was marking up with a pen, mouth twisted into a scowl of fascination, brow knit together.

At the sound of the door closing behind her, though, she sat up and turned around. Her intense face melted into a smile when she saw Barbara. "Not gone yet?" she asked, watching Barbara make herself comfortable on a lab stool.

"Obviously not."

Jan huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes, making another mark on her papers. "Ask a silly question..."

"I'm sorry," Barbara said after a moment. Jan looked up and smiled.

"It's alright. I'll forgive you," she narrowed her eyes and pointed at Barbara with the end of her pen, "This time." Barbara laughed and let her eyes trail across what Jan was working on.

"Thesis work?" she asked, and Jan sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Yes. It's all so frustrating," she sighed, and Barbara gave her a gentle smile.

"You'll get there one day."

"I know. _Thank you_ ," she said. Barbara's gaze dropped to the floor, and Jan tilted her head. "You alright?"

"Oh, I've just had a terrible day. I don't know what to make of it."

"Oh?" Jan raised an eyebrow, "What's the trouble? Can I help?"

Barbara looked up at her with a smile, feeling warmth at Jan's concern. "You're too sweet to me. But probably not, unfortunately. It's one of the girls. Susan Foreman."

If she'd been expecting any reaction from Jan, it wasn't that her mouth would fall open and her eyes would go wide. "Susan Foreman? She's _your_ problem too?"

"Yes."

"You don't know what to make of her," it wasn't so much a question, more of a statement. Barbara nodded.

"No, I don't."

"How old is she, Barbara?"

Barbara thought for a moment, pursing her lips. "Fifteen, I believe."

"Fifteen," Jan couldn't stop herself from chuckling, shaking her head and leaning on the table, "She lets her knowledge out a bit at a time so as not to embarrass me. That's what I feel about her. She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius. Is that what she's doing with history?"

"Something like that," Barbara sighed.

"So your problem is whether to stay in business or to hand over the class to her," Jan was smiling, but both could tell she was only half-joking. But Barbara shook her head.

"No, not quite."

"What, then?"

The heavy silence that followed put Jan a bit on edge. Barbara looked really, _genuinely_ worried about something. "Jan," she started after a moment, "I must talk to someone about this, but I don't want to get the girl into trouble." She paused, then smiled in amusement. "And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things."

"I'm not," Jan assured her, laughing at Barbara's humorously suspicious look, "I'm not! Promise!"

"Well I told you how good she is at history. I had a talk with her and told her she ought to specialize," Barbara said, and Jan nodded, "Well, she seemed quite interested until I said I'd be willing to work with her at her home. Then she said that would be 'absolutely impossible' as her grandmother _didn't like strangers_."

Jan snorted. "She's a doctor, isn't she? That's a bit of a lame excuse."

Barbara shrugged, waving her off. "Well, I didn't pursue the point, but then recently her homework's been getting... _bad_. So bad."

"Oh yes, I know," Jan agreed. Barbara wrung her hands.

"Well I spoke with her again and asked what was going on. Every time, she said it was something to do with her grandmother. Finally I got so irritated with all her excuses I decided to have a talk with this _grandmother_ of hers and tell her to take some interest in her."

Jan whistled, knowing how heated Barbara could get during confrontations. "Did you indeed? And what's the old girl like?"

"Well... that's just it. See, I got their address from the secretary. It's 76 Totter's Lane," as Barbara spoke, Jan started collecting the test tubes from the tables to go and wash them out, "And I went along there one evening, and- oh Janice, do pay attention."

"Sorry," Jan said, putting the test tubes in the sink, "So you went along there one evening?"

"And there isn't anything there! It's just an old junkyard!"

"Barbara!" Jan pretended to act scandalized, "Are you calling our student rubbish!?"

"Oh stop it," she smacked her with a folder that was lying out. Jan laughed and turned on the water, starting to wash the tubes out.

"I'm sure you just went to the wrong place."

"I certainly did not. It was the address the secretary gave me."

"The secretary got the address wrong, then?"

"No," Barbara insisted, "I checked. There's a big wall on one side, houses on the other and nothing in the middle. And this nothing in the middle is number 76 Totter's Lane."

Jan stood up, turning the water off and frowning. "Hm. That is a bit of a mystery," she shrugged, "Well there must be a simple answer _somewhere._ "

"I'd love to know _what_ ," Barbara huffed.

"We'll have to find out for ourselves, I suppose," Jan suggested, putting the test tubes back in the cupboard. Barbara smiled warmly at her.

"Thank you for the 'we'," Barbara said, standing and pushing the stool under the table, "She's waiting in one of the classrooms now. I'm loaning her a book on the French Revolution."

"What's she gonna do? Rewrite it?" Jan laughed. Barbara just rolled her eyes and started toward the door, "Oh, alright! What do we do? Ask her point blank?"

Barbara held the door open so they could both walk into the hallway. "I was thinking we could drive there. Wait 'til she arrives and see where she goes?"

"Stalk her?" Jan asked, amused. Barbara glared. "I know, I know. You're concerned."

"I want to make sure our student isn't _homeless,_ Jan."

"Oh, alright."

Barbara smiled. "Excellent! That is... if you aren't busy tonight."

"So _terribly_ busy, Barbara! You're interrupting a nice night in with the cats and grading lab books."

"Oh how will you ever survive? Hang on, let me stop off in the lounge. I actually _do_ have a book to get her."

 

* * *

 

When they entered Barbara's classroom, Susan was standing with her back to the door and a handheld radio up to her ear, the other hand waving and twisting around to the beat.

"Susan?" Barbara said, and Susan spun around, dropping her radio to her waist and walking toward them.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Wright! I didn't hear you come in," she lifted the radio once again and pointed at it, grinning from ear to ear, "Aren't they _fabulous?_ "

"Um..." Barbara suddenly felt very old, "I don't recognize them?"

"It's John Smith and the Common Men," Susan said excitedly, "They've gone from nineteen to two!"

Jan sat half way down on Barbara's desk, coat folded over her arm. "John Smith is the stage name of the Honourable Aubrey Waites," she said in Barbara's direction. Then, to Susan, "He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn't he, Susan?"

Susan looked absolutely thrilled. "Yes! You _are_ surprising, Dr. Chesterton, I wouldn't expect you to know things like that."

"I've an enquiring mind," Jan chuckled, "And a sensitive ear."

"Oh!" Susan rushed to turn the radio off, "I'm sorry."

"Thank you. And I'm not a Doctor yet, Susan, I've told you that before."

"Sorry," she flushed a strange orangish color, looking over at Barbara and lighting up, "Is that the book you promised me?"

"Yes," Barbara smiled, passing the book to her. Susan took it happily, flipping through several pages with glee.

Tucking it under her arm and grabbing her bag, she practically bounced on her feet. "Thank you so much! It will be... _interesting._ I'll return it tomorrow."

Barbara laughed. "Oh that's not necessary. Keep it until you've finished."

"I'll have it finished."

Jan and Barbara exchanged looks, and Jan sat forward. "Susan, I'm taking Miss Wright home, would you like a lift? It's getting late. And I've got room for one more if you don't mind a centrifuge and a box of notes in the back with you."

"Oh, no, thank you, Miss Chesterton. I like walking through the dark," she paused and leaned in, grinning mischievously, "It's mysterious."

For some reason, her tone of voice sent a chill down Barbara's spine. Jan didn't seem to notice, though, standing and shrugging on her coat.

"Well, do be careful, Susan. It's supposed to be awfully foggy tonight."

"Mm. I will," Susan seemed to have lost herself in the French Revolution book suddenly.

Barbara put on her coat and picked up her bag, heading for the door. "See you in the morning, Susan."

"I do expect so. Good night."

"Good night, Susan," Jan said, barely noticing that Susan didn't respond as the two walked out of the room.

Susan flipped the page, eyes zooming over the words, flip a page, scan, flip, scan. She paused on one page, tilting her head and examining what she'd just read. "Oh _that's_ not right."

 

* * *

 

Jan was right - it _was_ foggy. And _dark._ By the time they pulled out of the faculty parking lot, the sun was already mostly set, dark clouds stopping any extra light from getting in.

Sitting up straighter, Barbara waved her hand toward an empty space along the sidewalk. "Park there! It's right across the street."

"Bloody hell," Jan parked in the spot and put the car in park, peering out the window toward the junkyard, "Glad you said something, I'd never have found this place by myself. I don't suppose she's gotten here already."

Barbara shook her head. "No, we left before she did," she paused, and then shifted in her seat, "We _are_ doing the right thing, aren't we?"

"Well... there's no real way to justify curiosity."

"But her _homework..._ "

Jan laughed, rolling her eyes. "A bit of an excuse, really, isn't it? I've seen far worse. The truth is, we're both curious about Susan and we won't be happy until we know some of the answers," she said, and Barbara huffed out a sigh in frustration.

"It's true, but you shouldn't say it," she grumbled, then she threw her hands in the air, "And you can't just pass it off like that! If I thought I was just being a busybody, I'd go straight home. I thought you agreed she was a bit of a mystery."

"I do!" Jan said, gently touching Barbara's shoulder, "She _is_ a mystery. But I'm sure we'll find there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this."

"Oh of course. I'd love to hear your 'perfectly reasonable explanation' for why a teenage girl doesn't know how many shillings are in a pound."

Jan looked both shocked and amused. "Really?"

" _Really._ She said she thought we were on a decimal system."

"A _decimal system!?_ "

Barbara couldn't help but laugh. "A decimal system."

"Perhaps her grandmother is an American," Jan suggested, but Barbara shook her head.

"When I corrected her, all she said was that it was _her mistake_ , because she 'forgot the decimal system hadn't started here yet'," Barbara sighed. Jan chuckled. "I'm sure she's done the same sort of thing in your class."

"Oh of course she has. One of my favorites was the other day when I talking about chemical changes. I'd given out the litmus paper to show cause and effect, you know the one."

Barbara nodded. "And she knew the answer before you'd started?"

"Well yes, but," Jan laughed, "The answer simply didn't interest her. She wanted to deal with _active_ chemicals. Said it was a waste of time to watch inactives reacting in relation to one another. And she really means it! The experiments are child's play to her."

"Oh I know. It's gotten to the point where I'm deliberately trying to trip her up."

"So am I!" she groaned, remembering the problem she'd set in class for Susan to try. _A, B, and C for the three dimensions. And of course Susan went straight up to the board, chalk hovering over the problem, before she shook her head._

_"It's impossible unless you use D and E."_

_"_ _D and E? Whatever for? Do the problem that's set, Susan."_

_"But I can't, Miss Chesterton! You can't just use three of the dimensions, it doesn't work like that."_

_"Three of the- what, with time being the fourth, I suppose? What do you need E for, then? What do you make of the fifth dimension?"_

_"Space."_

"Too many questions, not enough answers," Barbara agreed.

"I mean- is she stupid, or does she really not know? She's absolutely _brilliant_ in some things, and just... _excruciatingly_ bad at others."

"Shh!" Barbara cut her off with a finger to her lips and a hand on her chest, "There she is."

They both shrank down in their seats and watched Susan approaching the entrance of the junkyard, bag slung over her shoulder. She stopped for a moment and looked around, then when she seemed to be satisfied that no one was watching, she slipped in through a break in the chain link fence.

After a moment, Barbara sat back up. "Look, can we just go in? I hate to think of her all alone in there."

"If she _is_ alone," Jan sighed, "Barbara, really, she _is_ fifteen. She could be meeting a boy."

Barbara couldn't help but laugh. "I almost hope she is. It would be so perfectly... _normal,_ " Barbara stared at where Susan had snuck in, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up, a chill running down her spine. "It's strange, Jan. I feel as though we're about to interfere in something that's best left alone."

"If we're going to do it, we should just get it over with and go in," Jan unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed out of the car, closing the door as quietly as she could. Barbara crossed around to stand next to her, folding her arms over her chest and looking up at the other woman, shocked to see her looking rather nonchalant.

"What, you don't feel it?" she asked. Jan just shrugged, smiling.

"I take things as they come. Let's go."

They crossed the street to where the junkyard's sign was, feeling along the fence until they found the same small crack Susan had gone in through. Jan pulled it as far as it would go so Barbara could squeeze through, then she ducked down and fumbled her way in.

"Christ, it's dark in here," Barbara whispered, and Jan could feel her hand gripping her arm tight.

"I brought a torch," she responded, reaching into her coat pocket. Before she could take it out, though, Barbara grabbed her wrist.

"Is that really a good idea? What if someone sees the light and catches us? This isn't exactly public property," she said. Jan considered that for a moment, letting the torch fall back to the bottom of her pocket. "Thank you. We'll just have a quick look around. Susan?"

"Susan?" Jan raised her voice just above a whisper, slowly and carefully making her way through the junkyard, Barbara just behind her, "Susan, it's your teachers, Miss Wright and Miss Chesterton."

There was a noise to the right, and Jan whipped around to see Barbara propping a wooden plank back up against several old plant pots. "Jan, would you look at this?" she whispered, pointing behind her, "It's a police box."

Jan hurried over to where she was, careful not to knock anything else over. "What on Earth is _that_ doing in here? Aren't they usually out on the street?"

"Perhaps it's broken, they scrapped it?" Barbara suggested, watching Jan put her hand up against the door.

"No..." she brought her other hand up as well, staring at it in shock, "It's live. Feel it."

Cautiously, Barbara touched the opposite door and felt a sort of static vibration all up and down her arm. "Yes, it is."

"Doesn't seem to be connected to anything," Jan whisper-called from the other side of the box, taking several trips around it to try and find the telephone connection, "Unless it's through the floor. How _odd._ "

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and Barbara looked around, suddenly getting a _very_ intense feeling that they were being watched. "Jan," she said, grabbing the other woman's arm once again, "I don't like this. Let's go find a policeman."

"Yes, alright. But we should-"

Jan was cut off by footsteps coming from where they'd snuck into the junkyard, both women whirling to look over their shoulders. Barbara's eyes were wide.

"Is that her?"

"That's not her. C'mon," Jan pulled Barbara behind some crates and old chairs, crouching down to conceal herself.

It was too dark to see much, but Jan and Barbara watched as a short black woman with greying hair, who looked to be in her early fifties, rounded the corner past an old bedframe and walked straight up to the police box, pulling a key out of the cloak draped around her shoulders and sticking it in the lock. As she pushed the door open and started to go inside, Barbara and Jan gave each other a look. And then,

"Oh grandmother, there you are!"

"That's Susan!" Barbara gasped, standing up out of their hiding place, "Excuse me?"

The woman in the cloak stepped back out of the box, closing the door to just a crack as Barbara came into her view. "What are you doing here?" she asked, almost accusingly.

"Ah- we're looking for a girl," Barbara started to explain, and the woman looked at her in confusion.

" _We?_ "

"Good evening..." Jan said as she walked to Barbara's side.

"What do you want?" the woman snapped. Jan and Barbara exchanged another look.

"One of our pupils, Susan Foreman, came into this yard. Maybe you've seen her?" Jan asked, but the woman just raised an eyebrow.

"Really? In _here?_ Are you quite sure?"

Barbara tried to give her a pleasant smile, though it may have come off as more of a grimace. "Yes. We saw her from across the street."

"Hm. Not police, then," it seemed like she was saying it to herself rather than to Barbara, who shook her head.

"No, we're not police. We're her teachers."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Why were you spying on her? Who are you?"

Ignoring the question, Jan pointed to the police box. "We heard a young girl's voice call out to you. Sounded just like Susan's."

"Really? Your hearing must be _very_ acute, I didn't hear anything."

"It came from in there," Barbara nodded to the box. But the woman just smiled patronizingly.

"You must've imagined it."

"I most certainly _did not!_ "

The woman laughed low, crossing her arms over her chest. "Girls, is it really reasonable to suppose that anybody would be inside a cupboard like that?"

"I suppose it would be _unreasonable_ to ask if we could have a look inside, then?" Jan asked.

"Quite so, yes. Oh dear," the woman walked straight between Barbara and Jan to pick up an old, ornate metal picture frame, "Wonder why I've never seen this before."

"Won't you _please_ help us?" Barbara asked, a bit more desperately this time, touching the woman's shoulder, "We're two of her teachers from the Coal Hill School. We saw her come in and we haven't seen her leave. Naturally, we're worried."

But the woman was _very_ caught up in this picture frame. "It'll need to be cleaned, but it's very nice. Hm? Well, I'm afraid none of that is any of my business. I suggest you leave."

"Not until we know for certain Susan isn't here," Jan said, irritated, "And frankly, I don't like your attitude."

"Yours leaves a lot to be desired as well," the woman shot back, smiling.

"Just open the door."

"There's nothing in there."

"Then what are you so afraid to show us?"

"Afraid?" the woman scoffed, putting down the picture frame, "Oh, go away."

Jan, scowling, turned to Barbara. "I think you were right. We ought to fetch a policeman."

"Very well. Off you go," the woman said with a wave of her hand.

"And you're coming with us."

The woman looked amused, tilting her head. "Oh _am I?_ I don't think so, young lady. No, I don't think so."

She walked around them to go look at something else laying in the piles of scraps, and Barbara touched Jan's arm. "We can't exactly force her," she glanced over her shoulder at the woman, "Even if she _is_ suspicious."

Turning around, the woman rolled her eyes. "Don't you think you're being rather high-handed, young lady? You thought you saw a girl enter the yard. You imagine you heard her voice. You believe she might be inside there. It's not very substantial, is it?"

"But why won't you help us?" Barbara asked.

"I'm not exactly hindering you, either. If you both want to make fools of yourselves, I suggest you do what you said you'd do. Go and find a policeman," she made herself comfortable leaning up against an old cabinet unit, smug smile on her lips, "I'll wait here so I can see the idiotic looks on your faces when you try to explain your behavior to a policeman."

"Well we're still going to find one. Come on, Barbara," Jan went to walk away, past the cloaked woman, when a crackling sound came from the police box.

" _Grandmother, what are you still doing out there?_ " the voice was coming from some unseen electrical speaker, but it was unmistakably Susan. Barbara and Jan looked at each other with wide eyes.

"That's Susan!" they both shouted, at the same time as the woman jumped forward, yelling, "Susan, close the door!"

But Barbara had already pushed inside, Jan following behind her.

What they saw before them could hardly be explained.

They weren't inside a police box at all. The room was enormous, with a high ceiling and a shiny floor. There was a coat rack by the doors they came through, several other pieces of wooden furniture placed seemingly at random around the room. The walls, which were covered top to bottom in large circular indents, seemed to _glow_ , the whole space giving off _energy._ Like it was _alive._

And right in the middle of it all, Susan was standing by a six sided sort of _console_ , covered in buttons and levers and screens, which slanted upward into a huge hole where a crystalline cylinder was sitting idle.

Barbara was frozen to the spot. "Good _God_."

"Close the doors, Susan," the woman shoved past Barbara toward the console, "I believe you know these buffoons."

"Yeah, they're two of my teachers," she said, though her eyes were still trained on Barbara and Jan, "What are you two _doing_ here?"

Barbara barely heard Susan's question. "Where _are_ we?"

"They must have followed you. That ridiculous school. I told you something like this would happen if we stayed in one place too long," the woman said from where she was pressing buttons on the console, and Susan turned to her.

"But why would they follow me?"

"Do you really live here, Susan?" Barbara asked, finally regaining some of her bearings. The woman looked up from the console.

"She does. What's wrong with that?"

"B- but it was just a police box!" Jan stammered, looking around in disbelief.

Barbara gestured vaguely in the woman's direction. "So that's..."

Susan nodded. "My grandmother. Yes."

"Why didn't you just tell us that?" Barbara asked the woman, approaching the console. "It just seems ridiculous, Mrs-"

" _Doctor_ ," she corrected, "And I'm under no obligation to discuss my private life with strangers."

Jan still didn't seem to have been able to break out of her shock. "It was a police box. This was _just_ a police box, I walked all around it. Twice! Barbara, you saw me walk around it! What's _happening!?_ "

"You don't deserve any explanations," Doctor Foreman snapped, angrily flipping a switch, "You pushed your way in here uninvited and unwelcome, you've got no right to demand explanations."

"It's got to be an illusion," Jan decided, walking toward the console.

"What's she on about _now?_ "

Susan grabbed Jan's arm and pulled her away from the console, staring up at her intensely. "Miss Chesterton, _why are you here?_ "

"Of course, you don't understand, so you find excuses," Doctor Foreman chuckled, stepping between Susan and Jan confrontationally, "Illusions, indeed? _Very_ human. I'll bet you say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms?"

"No."

She smiled, "But you've discovered television, haven't you?"

"Well... yes."

"Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen, you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?"

Jan thought for a moment, then scoffed. "Well I don't see how-"

"No, you clearly don't," she said, pulling off the cloak and hanging it on the coat rack, revealing a black suit jacket and a white shirt with a bow tied around her neck, "I can see by your face that you don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't. Never mind, that doesn't matter." She started running her fingers along several rows of controls, clicking her tongue, "Now then, which switch was it? No. No, no. Ah yes, that is it."

She flipped the switch and turned back to Jan. "The point isn't whether or not you understand. It's whether or not you know what's going to happen to you. Susan, you know they'll tell everyone about the ship."

Jan's face contorted. " _Ship!?_ "

"Yes. Ship. The bloody thing doesn't roll around on wheels."

Barbara looked around again, still awestruck, "You mean it _moves?_ "

"Oh yes!" Susan said brightly, "The TARDIS can go anywhere!"

" _TARDIS?_ What does that- I don't understand you, Susan," Barbara said, and Susan smiled.

"Well, I made up the name TARDIS from the initials, Time And Relative Dimension In Space," she said, and then her smile fell, and she looked between Jan and Barbara, a little disappointed, "I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside."

Jan stepped forward again, waving her hand around, "Let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box on the outside, standing in a junkyard, is somehow bigger on the inside and can move anywhere in time and space?"

"Yes!" Susan nodded.

"Quite so," Doctor Foreman agreed. Jan just scoffed.

"But that's ridiculous!"

Susan turned to her grandmother, distraught. "Why won't they believe us!?"

"How can we, Susan?" Barbara asked.

Doctor Foreman squeezed Susan's shoulder. "Now, now, Susan. Don't get exasperated. Their infantile minds just aren't wrapping around it all."

"You're treating us like children!" Jan snapped. Doctor Foreman put a hand over her chest, feigning shock.

"Really? Oh dear, the children of my civilization would be insulted."

" _Your_ civilization?" Jan echoed, and she was met with an intense look of aggravation.

"Yes, _my_ civilization. I _tolerate_ this century. I don't enjoy it," Doctor Foreman said, taking several threatening steps toward Jan so they were nearly face to face, "Have you ever thought what it would be like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet, without friends or protection, and now you're coming in here, telling _me_ what-"

"You've got to be joking," Jan laughed, cutting Doctor Foreman off, but Susan shook her head.

"It's true, every word of it! Miss Chesterton, I'm so sorry, you've no idea what you've done by coming here."

The fear in her voice set both Barbara and Jan on edge. "What do you mean, Susan?" Barbara asked carefully, but Susan was already at her grandmother's side by the controls, holding onto her arm.

"Grandmother, _please_ , just let them go! They don't understand, they _can't_ understand! That means they can't hurt us," she tried, unsuccessfully, to place herself between her grandmother and the controls, "Look, I know these people better than you do. Their minds reject things they don't understand."

Doctor Foreman gave a pointed look at Barbara and Jan, then back at Susan. "No."

"You can't just keep us here!" Jan all but yelled, and Barbara took Susan by the shoulders.

"Susan, listen to me. Can't you see that all this is an illusion? It's... I don't know, a _game_ that you and your grandmother are playing, if you like, but you can't expect us to believe it."

"It's not a game!"

"But Susan, it _is-_ "

"It's not!" she shouted, eyes locked on Barbara's, "Look, I love your school. I loved England in the twentieth century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life. But I was born in another time, another world."

"Susan, you're a human being," Barbara tried, "You look like us, you sound like us-"

"But I'm _not!_ "

Jan grabbed Barbara's elbow, glaring in Doctor Foreman's direction. "C'mon, Barbara, let's just leave."

They walked back toward the door, a little disoriented by the fact that it blended in with the walls, but as soon as they got close, Susan shouted after them, "It's no use! You can't get out, she's not going to let you."

"Well I _saw her_ close the doors from over here, it can't be hard," Jan said irritably, walking toward the console. She stared down at all the blinking buttons, switches, screens- "Which one operates the door?"

Doctor Foreman chuckled. "Still think it's an illusion?"

"I do!" Jan snapped, hands still hovering over the controls, "And I know that free travel through time and space is a breakthrough scientists only have in _dreams_ , and I know I'm not about to find it solved in a junkyard!"

"Your arrogance almost outweighs your ignorance," Doctor Foreman smiled.

"Will you just open the door!?" she scowled when Doctor Foreman shook her head, "Fine, Susan, will you help us?"

"I- uh- I-"

Jan pinched the bridge of her nose and huffed out a sigh, "You know what? I'll just try it myself," and as she hit the nearest button to her hand, Susan screamed out,

"Don't touch her, she's alive!"

An electric burst that could only be described as _angry_ shot through Jan's arm when she touched the button, sending her falling backwards, arm spasming from the shoulder down to her fingers. "What the _hell!?_ " she hissed through clenched teeth, and Barbara ran to help her up.

"Janice, what do you think you're _doing!?_ "

"She's going to kill herself, grandmother, just let them go!" Susan cried, "Please!"

"Oh of course, and tomorrow we'll be public spectacles for everyone to gossip about and display on the news!" Doctor Foreman shouted, sneering in Barbara and Jan's direction, "No. They'll talk, it's what humans do best. Put yourself in their place. They're bound to make some sort of a complaint to the authorities, or at the very least talk to their friends. If I let them go, we have to go too."

Susan gasped sharply, face contorting in sadness, "No! Not again, grandmother, I can't do it again!"

"My child, there is no alternative to-"

"I want to stay!" Susan begged, "Grandmother, listen, they're both kind people. Why won't you trust them? All you've got to do is ask them to promise to keep our secret, and-"

"It's out of the question."

Susan shook her head firmly, "I won't go, grandmother. I won't leave the twentieth century. I'd rather leave the TARDIS, and you!"

"Now you're just being sentimental and childish."

"No, I mean it!"

Doctor Foreman waved her hand around and turned back to the controls. "Very well. Then I suppose you'll have to go with them. I'll open the doors."

Susan looked back at Barbara and Jan for a second, before realizing what her grandmother was doing, "Grandmother _don't!_ " she darted forward and side checked her, trying to grab the time rotator control out of her hands. Sparks started flying, and the crystal cylinder in the middle of the controls started making a screeching noise, moving up and down and flashing blinding lights.

Barbara was thrown backwards, tripping over her own feet as the room pitched and spun - she tried to grab onto Jan's arm, but she was in the same boat, stumbling and trying to get footing on the moving floor. Barbara fell backwards onto a chair, head colliding with the back of it and knocking her out cold. A moment later, Jan hit the ground just as hard, only conscious for another second before she was overtaken by dizziness and the sensation of moving _very fast_ and her eyes rolled back in her head.

The TARDIS disappeared out of the junkyard in a glowing, screeching flash.


	2. The Cave of Skulls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back at it again at krispy kreme  
> i hope u enjoy the next installment of my super self indulgent rewrite au!  
> also i got the script for the actual episodes from here http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/1-1.htm in case anybody wants to see the actual dialogue and not just my doctored (ha) version  
> anyway the bone shit in the beginning....bruh....lemme get a boneless chapter with a two liter glad i never have to write that shit again

The cave smelled dank, _sweaty._

Unkempt men and women, scantily dressed in furs and leathers, were gathered round a large rock, bodies pressing against each other as they watched, _waited._ In the center, crouching like a beast on top of the rock, the man they called Za furiously rubbed an old leg bone between his hands.

One of the older women, long grey hair tangled around her shoulders, looked unimpressed, "Where is the fire Za makes?" she asked. A younger woman, _Hur,_ with a blonde mess of hair on her head and fur wrapped around her shoulders, looked up and glared at the old woman.

"In his _hands_. We are not going to the wood," she hissed through clenched teeth. Za kept rubbing the bone.

"My father made fire..."

The old woman sneered, "And they killed him for it. It is better if we live as we always have."

But Za didn't seem to hear her, still staring at the bone in frustration and anger. "He showed me how to sharpen the stones and trap the bear and the tiger. He should have shown me this, too."

"So everyone would bow to you as they did to him?" the old woman asked, not bothering to hide the distain from her voice. Za let out a roar and leapt off the rock, shoving her against the cave wall.

"Tell me what my father did to make fire!"

She laughed in his face.

Za snarled, baring his teeth and skulking back to the rock. "Out of my sight, old woman! You should've died with him."

The woman turned on her heel as she shook her head, walking past the others toward another tunnel of the cave. But not before throwing over her shoulder a bitter glare. "Za will never make fire."

Crouching back down over the stone and the twigs resting on it, Za growled at Hur. "Put on more of the dead fire!"

She reached into her satchel and sprinkled ash onto the pile of twigs, watching expectantly as Za started rubbing the bone over it once again. They watched, they waited. Many of the others started to stray away from the rock, realizing Za would not be making fire any time soon. Eventually, Hur leaned in close to Za's ear.

"The old men are talking against you, Za. They say it would be better for the stranger, Kal, to lead us."

Za made a noise somewhere between a scoff and a hiss. " _Kal_?"

Hur shuffled closer to him. "They say you sit around and rub your hands together all day while he brings us meat."

"Without meat, we go hungry," Za said, rubbing the bone harder, "Without fire, we _die._ "

"Old men see no further than tomorrow's meat. They will make Kal the leader," she paused, licking Za's face, "My father will give me... to him."

"Kal is no leader," Za told.

"The leader is the one who makes fire."

Za roared and swept his hand across the rock, sending the twigs and ash flying into the watchers faces. "Where has the fire gone!? Where!?"

 

* * *

 

Barbara woke up in an armchair with a pounding headache and blurry vision. Of course her first thought was, unfortunately, _did I really drink that much AGAIN?_

But as her vision cleared, she saw that she wasn't, in fact, in the armchair in her flat, and memories of recent events flooded her mind, making her heart hammer in her chest. She looked around frantically, taking in the glowing white walls, the high ceiling, the shiny floor, the _body_ on the floor- _Janice!_

"Jan," she murmured, voice dull and croaky from unconsciousness, "Jan? Jan!"

Leaning forward, Barbara shook Jan by the shoulder, feeling relief wash over her when the other woman groaned and rolled toward her, bringing a hand up to rub her temple. Barbara dropped out of the chair onto her knees, helping Jan sit up.

"I'm alright, Barbara," Jan told her with a comforting - yet fake - smile, looking around the room, "Think I hit my head."

"So did I," Barbara agreed, "At least the moving's stopped, though."

"Has it really?" Jan only sounded like she was half joking, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. Barbara rubbed gentle circles in her back, turning toward where two voices could be heard discussing something quietly.

"...well, the base is at least steady," that was Susan, she was hitting buttons and looking at little screens all over the console, almost imitating what her grandmother was doing earlier, "Layer of sand, rock formation. Looks good. Earth, I _think,_ and we've left 1963, I can tell you that much."

"Very much so, yes, give me a moment, I'll tell you when," the older woman, grey hair now out from under her hat and jacket on the coatrack, pulled a lever and spun something that made a springing noise.

"Already checked that, it says zero," Susan replied, leaning on the console. Doctor Foreman just waved her off.

"You must've done something wrong, child, that's not..." she trailed off, brow furrowing, "What the hell? The yearometer's got to be broken."

Susan looked a little smug. "Told you so."

"Well at least that messy journey's finished," Doctor Foreman turned around, an amused yet irritated smirk slipping onto her face as she looked at Barbara and Jan. "What are you doing down there, waxing the floor?"

Jan stood, wobbly, and dusted off the front of her coat, steadying herself on Barbara's arm. Barbara glared at Doctor Foreman.

"What have you done?" she demanded, "Where have you taken us?"

"Barbara, you don't actually _believe_ this nonsense, do you?" Jan asked, incredulous.

Susan pointed up at something on the near wall, smiling, "Well have a look at the scanner screen."

"Oh yes, have a look-sie, maybe your thick skulls will get something out of that," Doctor Foreman rolled her eyes and swept past Barbara and Jan to grab something out of a cabinet unit. Jan left Barbara's side to get closer to the screen, squinting and then scoffing when she saw what it was.

"What, sand and rock on a television screen?"

"Correct," Doctor Foreman said, returning to the console, "That's the immediate view outside the ship."

"But where are we?" Barbara asked, and Jan shook her head.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered, "You mean _that's_ what we'll see if we step outside?" Susan nodded, but Jan wouldn't have it, "I don't believe this."

Doctor Foreman laughed, fiddling with more controls. "You're _really_ a stubborn young woman, aren't you?"

Jan felt her face heat up in anger. "Fine! Show me some proof. Give me some concrete evidence," she shouted, and then backpedaled when she saw the look of hurt on Susan's face, "I- I'm sorry, Susan, I don't want to hurt you, but it's time you were brought back to reality. You have to see how absurd this all is."

"You're wrong, Miss Chesterton," Susan said.

"Bold move, accusing me of being a charlatan. Tell me, Miss _Chesterton_ ," the mocking posh accent made Jan bristle, "What sort of ' _concrete evidence_ ' would satisfy you?"

She huffed out a sigh. "Just open the doors, _Doctor Foreman_."

"Excuse me? Doctor _who?_ " she looked over at Susan, "What's she on about?"

Jan felt a hand on her arm and turned to see Barbara, staring at her intensely. "Jan... they're so _sure._ "

"I know."

She looked a bit pleading, "And remember the difference from the outside of the police box to the inside."

"I _know_ , Barbara. Doctor, are you going to open the doors or not?" Jan demanded, and the Doctor shot her a look.

"No."

"You _see-_ "

"Not until I know it's safe to do so," the Doctor finished, smiling smugly in Jan's direction before looking back down at the controls, "Right, okay. Yes, yes, good. Excellent, excellent... radiation. Radiation, radi- Susan, you've got the radiation counter over there, what's it read?"

Susan glanced down, "It's reading normal, grandmother."

"Splendid! I think I'll take my Geiger counter with me anyway, take a few scans, just to be sure," she said, walking back to the cabinet and grabbing out a box, "Still challenging me, young lady?"

"Just open the doors and prove your point," Jan said. The Doctor sighed heavily.

"You're _so_ narrow minded, aren't you?"

"Grandmother, do you know where we are?" Susan asked, and the Doctor shrugged.

"Not really, I'll just need a few samples of plants, dirt. Whatever's out there. I think we've definitely gone back in time, and you may be right. It does read quite like Earth. We'll have to wait and see, I suppose."

"Wait just a minute," Jan snapped, stepping closer to the Doctor, "You say we've gone back in time?"

The Doctor looked at her with her head tilted. "Quite so."

"So when we go out of that door, we won't be in a junkyard in London in England in the year 1963?" Jan continued, feeling a sneer slipping onto her face. The Doctor nodded, taking a step forward like she was accepting a challenge.

"Yes. But your tone suggests ridicule."

"Because it _is_ ridiculous!" Jan shouted, feeling her head throb painfully as she did, "Time doesn't work like that! You can't get on and off whenever you like in the past or the future! Time doesn't go round and round in circles!"

"Really?" the Doctor asked, getting closer, "Where _does_ time go, then?"

"It-" Jan clenched and unclenched her fists several times, "It doesn't go _anywhere!_ It just- it _happens_ , and then it's finished!"

The Doctor looked over at Barbara, "You're not as doubtful as your friend, I hope."

"No," Barbara said, earning a look of shock from Jan, "I can't help it, Jan, I just believe them. I don't know why."

"If you could touch the alien sand and hear the cries of strange birds and watch them wheel in another sky, would that satisfy you?" the Doctor asked, and Jan gave her a sarcastic smile.

"Yes."

The Doctor responded with an equally sarcastic smile, twisting a knob on the console. "Wipe that attitude off your face, Miss Chesterfield. Go see for yourself."

The doors swung open, and Jan felt her heart drop into her stomach. "That's... that's not possible."

Outside the doors wasn't a junkyard. It wasn't even London. It was sandy and rocky, plains stretching for miles out toward the clowdy white horizon. Wind whistled and sent a cold rush into the TARDIS, the smell of _nature_ , unaffected by cities and pollution, coming with it. There were tiny green plants scattered here and there, popping up from between the rocks and dirt.

And that was just the view from out of the doors.

"Still think it's a game?" Susan asked, pulling on a brown jacket and zipping it up to her chest, "We're off for samples!"

"You're not coming, child, I want you with these two clowns," the Doctor said, hanging a sort of _camera_ around her neck with a strap and picking up a carpet bag full of things that made metallic noises. Susan pouted for a moment, but brightened when she saw Barbara and Jan's looks of awe.

Barbara walked forward with wide eyes, tentatively putting one foot on the ground outside, then the other, then she walked forward several paces, whirling around with an enormous grin on her face. "Jan, come out and have a look!" she called, voice laced with excitement.

"Still a police box?" they heard the Doctor saying under her breath, running a hand up and down the side of the TARDIS, "Well that's concerning. Susan, remind me to have a look at the chameleon circuit when we go back in."

"You got it, grandmother!" Susan responded, then grabbed Jan's hand, "C'mon, Barbara wants you out there."

"Right, yes," Jan said, blinking to try and unfreeze herself. She took a step forward and her vision went cloudy, making her stumble and grab Susan with one hand and the console with the other. Luckily, this time, it didn't shock her. "Sorry."

"It's alright!" Susan said, wrapping an arm around Jan's waist, "Lean on me, I'll walk you out."

"Thank you, sorry, thanks," Jan said as Susan helped her several steps toward the door.

"We'll get a healing strip on your head in a minute. Shouldn't take too long to patch you up. Barbara, too," Susan said, and Jan nodded, stopping and moving her arm from around Susan's shoulders. "Think you're alright from here?"

"Yes, I think so," Jan said.

"Right. Cool!"

Susan practically bounded out of the TARDIS, leaving Jan standing in shock in the doorway. Barbara made her way over, squeezing Jan's hand comfortingly.

"I was wrong, wasn't I?" Jan asked, staring out at the vast wasteland. Barbara smiled.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've no clue what's going on either," she said. Jan laughed, taking several hesitant steps out onto the sandy, rocky ground, "I mean, the inside of the ship, what we're seeing now. Just the things Doctor Foreman keeps saying-"

"That's not her name, apparently," Jan interrupted, glancing over to where the Doctor was, about twenty meters away now, lighting what was _probably_ a cigarette. "I mean _really._ Who is she? Doctor _who_? Perhaps if we knew her name we might have a clue to all this."

Barbara shook her head. "Look, Jan. It happened. There's nothing we can do about it."

"But there has to be some reasonable explanation," Jan started, eyes trailing back toward where she'd just seen the Doctor. Of course, in just a few moments, she'd managed to disappear from sight. "Where's-"

As if on cue, Susan came back toward them from the opposite direction, hugging her jacket tight against her in the cold air. "Where did my grandmother go?" she asked, sounding a little concerned, "I can't see her anywhere!"

"I just saw her off that way," Jan pointed toward where she last saw the Doctor, suddenly seeing a new, taller, broader figure standing where the Doctor used to be. "Who-"

The figure raised their arm and swung it down; the cry of pain that followed obviously came from the Doctor. Susan shrieked. "Grandmother!"

Susan took off running in that direction, Barbara and Jan following close behind when they realized she wasn't going to slow down. "Susan, wait!" Barbara shouted, "Susan!"

"Grandmother!" Susan cried, coming to a screeching halt at a small hole in the ground, about four meters in diameter and three deep. The Doctor's carpet bag and tools were at the bottom, scattered around like she'd just been taking samples of the dirt below. "Oh, that _thing_ must've taken her!"

Barbara slid down into the hole and picked up the broken box that had been around the Doctor's neck. "Look at this, it's shattered."

"Grandmother, where are you!?" Susan yelled, hands cupped around her mouth, "Grandmother!"

"Susan, Susan, don't panic," Jan said. Susan shrugged off the comforting hand Jan had put on her shoulder and hopped into the ditch next to Barbara. "Perhaps we didn't see what we thought we saw, perhaps she went off with whoever was there to explore more."

"Not without her notes she wouldn't! She'd _never_ leave without her notes! They're too important to her. The notebook's got the key codes of all the machines in the ship, i- it's got notes of everywhere we've been to. Something terrible has happened to her, I know it has. We've gotta find her!" Susan went to make a run for it again, but Jan caught her around the waist, holding her back.

"Susan, I promise we'll find her. She can't be too far away," Jan reassured her.

"Look, there's a line of trees just beyond those rocks," Barbara said, climbing out of the ditch and brushing off her skirt, "See the break in the middle? That might mark a pathway toward some sort of civilization."

"They might've taken her there!" Susan agreed.

"We'll try there first, let me grab her things," Jan said as she bent down to grab the Doctor's notebook and broken box out of the ditch. When her hand connected with the dirt, however, she paused, brow furrowing. Barbara must've seen her look of confusion, because she leaned toward her in concern.

"What's wrong?"

"The ground's _freezing._ "

 

* * *

 

It was growing colder in the cave, and fast; everyone knew it.

They were beginning to huddle together in the corners just to keep warm, even during the daytimes. Younger, stronger men and women were giving their furs to the elders, who lurked and whispered about how many days they had left while the children ran around playing beast and hunter as if it was just another average day, blissfully unaware of their imminent deaths if Za could not make fire soon.

"Kal says where he comes from, he has often seen men make fire," Horg muttered, back turned to the rest of the cave. He was aiming for subtlety. Za was not as worried.

"Kal is a _liar!_ " he growled.

Horg snarled at a young girl whose makeshift play-spear smacked against his thigh, watching her run off to 'kill' her brother with her group of 'hunter' friends before turning back to Za and lowering his voice further. "He says Orb will show him how to make it."

"All his tribe died in the last cold. If he had not found us, he would have died too!" Za scoffed, slouching further into his furs as Hur leaned toward her father.

"What else did the liar say?"

"He said Orb only shows the secret to the leader," he said, jumping back when Za let out a cry of anger and pounded his fist on the wall of the cave like a petulant child.

" _I_ am leader! Orb will show _me!_ I am the son of the great firemaker!" Za pressed his now bleeding fist into his furs, scowling, "But he does not show me how to put flames into the sticks. Kal comes. I do not kill him. I let him eat with us and sleep in our caves, and now he tries to be leader!? I will have to spill blood and make people bow to me. I will-"

Za was cut off by commotion from the mouth of the cave, drawing the attention of everyone within. Over the heads of the others, Za could see Kal entering with something slung over his shoulder. _No doubt more meat to gain the trust of the people._

"Out of my way!" Za bellowed, shoving his way through the small crowd toward the rock where Kal was setting down whatever had been in his arms. Staring down at it, Za found himself at a loss for words. He looked toward Kal, brow knit together, but the other man's face was steely. Whatever was lying on the rock had no face, just a mop of grey hair where the head should be, the body covered in _some_ sort of cloth, though it was nothing Za had ever seen. "This... this is a strange creature."

Kal laughed at him, and Za could feel his blood boiling as he watched Kal turn the creature over onto it's back, revealing the face of one of them. _He'd left her on her front just to trick me,_ Za snarled at the thought. Smug, Kal crossed his arms over his chest. "Surely the son of the great firemaker is not frightened of an old woman?"

Several of the others chuckled, only silencing themselves when Za whipped around to glare.

"Tell me," Kal began, staring down at Za with a challenge in his eyes, "When will Za make fire appear from his hands?"

"When Orb decides it!"

"Orb's power is for _strong_ men. Orb has sent me this creature," Kal was no longer just talking to Za, turning to address the whole cave, "She makes fire come from her fingers! I've seen it with my own eyes, she is _made_ of fire! Smoke comes from her mouth!"

"Just as _lies_ come out of yours!" Hur growled, but Za pushed her back toward Horg.

"She wears strange skins," he said. Kal didn't even seem to hear him.

"Za is afraid. There was a strange hole in the ground. The creature was in it. Za would have _run away_ had he seen it!"

"SILENCE!" Za bellowed.

"When I saw fire come from her fingers I remembered Za, son of the firemaker. When the cold comes, you will all _die_ if you wait for Za to make fire for you. I, Kal, am a true leader. The creature and I fought like the tiger and the bear, but my strength was too much for her. And I, Kal, carried her here to make fire for you just as I saw her make fire in the strange hole!"

Za looked around desperately, searching for someone who looked at least a little disdainful. But the only one was Hur. Even Horg was nodding in agreement. Outraged, Za pushed Horg backwards by the chest. "Why do you listen to Kal!?"

"You have many warm skins, you have forgotten what the cold is like."

Roaring, Za threw Horg on the ground. "Tomorrow I will go out and kill many bears! You will _all_ have warm skins!"

Horg stood angrily and shoved Za square in his back, making him fall to his hands and knees in the dirt of the cave floor. "I say tomorrow you will rub your hands together and hold them to the dry sticks and ask Orb to send you fire! And the bears and you will stay warm in their own skins!"

"What he promises to do, he will do, father!" Hur screeched, fingernails raking across Horg's cheek.

"The firemaker is _no more!_ " Kal delivered a swift kick to Za's ribs, "He carried dry sticks, but tonight I make them _burn once again!_ I am _leader!_ "

Cheering erupted from the others in the cave, screaming Kal's name in support as he pumped his fist in the air. Hur scampered to Za's side, wiping the blood off his chin with the back of her hand. Something hit her back, and she whirled, ready to pounce on whoever dared touch her, but stopped short when she saw it was the creature's own leg.

 

* * *

 

The Doctor awoke with blurry vision in a dark room full of shouting. She blinked several times to clear her head, and looked around, immediately sighing internally. _Of course it's the neanderthals. This is the second damn time this has happened._ Then, after a moment, she realized she didn't actually know _what_ happened. Or how she got here. Or _where Susan was._

"The thing has opened it's eyes," a woman's voice gasped, and the Doctor looked toward it, seeing a dirty young woman with a tangle of blonde hair stacked on her head, crouching next to a bearded man with blood smeared across his chin.

"My goodness," the Doctor murmured, "How did I-"

"Do you want fire, or do you want to die in the cold!?"

She looked up and saw an enormous hulking man with paint under his eyes, memories coming back to her in a rush as the crowd cheered for fire behind her.

" _Fire! Fire!_ "

The Doctor propped herself up on her elbows, but the people were so involved in the large man's speech they didn't seem to notice. "When it's cold, the tiger comes to our caves again at night. Za will give you to the tiger, Za will give you to the cold. Za rubs his hands and waits for Orb to remember him when Orb never knew who he was in the first place! My creature is made of fire! She can make fire come from her fingers! I have seen it! And I, Kal, brought her here!"

With a start, the Doctor realized the big one, _Kal_ , was talking about _her._ "I _beg your pardon!?_ " she snapped, but no one heard her.

"She's just an old woman in strange skins, fire cannot live within!" the bearded man hissed, jumping to his feet, and the Doctor decided he had to be _Za,_ "We have put up with the stranger Kal for _too long_! It is time he died!"

A man around the Doctor's age, with white hair down to his chest, put himself between Kal and Za before it escalated any further, "I say there is truth in _both_ of you! Za speaks truth, that fire cannot live in men. And Kal speaks the truth that we die without fire."

"If the old woman makes fire from her fingers, let us see it now!" the blonde woman on the ground said, baring her teeth at the Doctor, whose face contorted in confusion.

"Fire from my _wha_ -"

Za stamped his foot on the ground, sending dirt flying. " _I_ say what is to be done here!"

"Za tries to talk like his father, the firemaker, but Za does not want to see fire made. I, Kal, am not afraid of fire. I did not run when I saw her make fire with her fingers and breath smoke as though it were air! I will make my creature make fire!"

"NO!" Za cried, seizing the Doctor's arm and yanking her to her feet, "I will take her to the Cave of Skulls and force her to show me her secrets!"

All of a sudden, as Kal snatched up her other arm, the Doctor realized what the hell they were all talking about. She thrashed her arms around, "Wait!"

The crowd quieted, staring at her with an intensity she'd never felt before. "I'll make fire! I'll make you fire right now! Let my arm go and I can make you fire!" When neither of them moved, the Doctor let out a forced laugh, "Come on, boys. I'm just an old woman, what harm can I do to you?"

Za and Kal hesitated, but eventually released their grip on her. " _Thank you._ Just a moment," she reached in the inside pocket of her vest, hearts jumping when she found it empty. "My lighter? Where's my lighter!?" she dug around further, only finding a couple cigarettes and a half-used blunt. No lighter. _No fire._ "Shit, fuck- The ship, I have to-"

"Where is the fire!?" someone in the crowd growled.

"I will make fire!" the Doctor shouted, before stepping toward Kal, "Take me back to where you found me and I will make you all the fire you want!"

"She is Kal's creature, she will make fire for Kal only," he said with a smug look at Za.

"More of your lies!" Za said, "The old woman cannot make fire!"

"No! There was a hole, she was in it! The fire came from her fingertips!" Kal said, but he was obviously losing the others.

Za stepped up on the rock, making him as tall as Kal. "You want to be strong like Za, son of the great firemaker. You all heard him say that there would be fire. There is no fire." Murmurs of agreement swept the crowd. "Za does not tell you lies. He does not say, I will do this thing, and then not do it. He does not say, I will make you warm, and then leave you to the dark. He does not say, I will fight away the tiger with fire, and then let him come to you in the dark. Do you want a liar for your chief?"

"No!" the crowd started to shout, and the Doctor suddenly found herself gripped around the shoulders by Kal's meaty hands as he shook her roughly.

"Make fire! I've seen you make fire!"

The Doctor's hearts were racing when the blonde woman brought a stick down on Kal's arms, freeing the Doctor from his grasp. "You are trapped in your lies, Kal!"

"Great chief who is afraid of nothing. Oh great Kal, save us from the cold, save us from the tiger!" Za mocked, the crowd laughing and jeering.

"Make fire!"

"I don't have my lighter or matches, I _can't!_ " the Doctor said, jumping back when Kal brandished a knife from within his furs.

"Make fire or I will kill you now!"

Za laughed from where he stood on the rock. "Let the old woman die. We'll watch the _great Kal_ as he kills this _strong_ enemy."

"Or we'll keep them and make them hunt for us. It's good to have someone to laugh at!" Hur cackled, and the crowd joined her, watching Kal advance on the Doctor. She stumbled into the rock, throwing up her hands to block the oncoming blow, but as Kal raised his weapon there was a scream from the mouth of the cave,

" _GRANDMOTHER, NO!_ "

The Doctor didn't have any time to process what the hell was happening; Susan threw herself onto Kal's back and wrapped her arms around his neck, kicking and screaming as he fell from side to side. There were more shouts, movement around her, she was being grabbed, pulled backwards- almost panicked, the Doctor watched Susan's science teacher land a _solid_ punch to one of the neanderthal's heads before being bashed in the spine with a club, sending her to the ground.

Za raised the club above Janice's head, and the Doctor thrashed against the man restraining her with a sudden strike of fear in her hearts. "STOP! Stop, if she dies, I will not make fire for _any_ of you! No fire!"

Scowling, Za pulled Janice up by the collar and stared her in the eyes, growling in anger when she stared back with equal intensity. "Evil women," he said, pushing Janice toward another man to be restrained.

The Doctor watched, helpless and enraged, as Susan struggled to get free of the woman holding her, as Janice was propped upright against a huge man, knees buckled underneath her, as Kal got closer and closer to Barbara's face, _touching_ her cheek with his dirty hand.

He was fascinated. _Infatuated._

Barbara looked somewhere between disgusted and horrified.

"Kill her!"

Everyone turned to look where the voice had come from, and the Doctor was surprised to see a woman even older than herself, crouching in the corner of the cave. Kal stared for a long moment, and the woman nodded in Barbara's direction.

Barbara screamed as he raised his knife against her.

"Wait!" Za grabbed Kal's wrist and pushed his arm back down to his side, "You cannot kill all our enemies. When Orb gives fire back to the sky, let him look down on them. They will die, and Orb will give us fire again."

Murmurs rippled through the crowd, and Za's face darkened.

"Take them to the _Cave of Skulls_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu @lesbiantwelve if u enjoyed!


	3. The Forest of Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hewwo im back with another chapter of The Most Self Indulgent AU Ever
> 
> Yet Again here's the script if u want to read the original without my added dialogue!! http://www.chakoteya.net/DoctorWho/1-1.htm 
> 
> anyway drama in the woods!! thats gay culture right there!!

Barbara cried out in pain as the man threw her to the ground.

Before she had any time to gain her senses, she heard another shout beside her, then two more, followed by the sound of the circular rock that covered the entrance grinding shut and closing them all in. She could hear Susan crying softly, the Doctor muttering to herself. Their voices echoed off the cave walls. Trapped, _trapped-_ _We're completely trapped._

Twisting and trying to move, Barbara found the bindings around her wrists and ankles were tied so tight they felt like they were cutting into her skin. She bit the inside of her cheek and let out a small whimper.

"Barbara?"

"Jan?" something like relief flooded over her just hearing her voice, and she shifted again to get closer, ignoring the pain, "Jan, is that you?"

"It's me, yes, it's me," she said. It was almost impossible to see, light coming from a crack above where two large rocks met and formed the cave ceiling, illuminating the four figures in a ghostly sort of light. Barbara felt like she was going to cry. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"No," Barbara said, closing her eyes tight, "Jan, I- I'm _really scared._ "

There was no response for a moment. "Yeah. I am too."

From across the room, Susan let out a pathetic sob that made Barbara jump, "How are we going to get out of here!?"

"We'll have to use our cunning, Susan," the Doctor said, and to Barbara's shock, she sounded genuinely upset, "I- I'm so sorry. I'm so terribly sorry, this is all my fault."

"No, no, no-" Susan whimpered, "No, don't blame yourself. This isn't your fault."

"Can anyone get free?" Jan asked, voice strained, "We can't talk about escape if none of us can move."

No one answered. Susan's cries echoed against the cold walls; Barbara took a shuddering breath and tried to stop herself from crying too.

"I can sit up. I think," she said after a long moment. _If I can't, we're as good as dead._ Clenching her stomach, Barbara rolled forward and backward, trying to sit herself upright. It hurt, _shit_ did it _hurt_ , but eventually she managed to stay in a sitting position, hands propping her up and knees bent to the side. She couldn't stop herself from letting out a sound between a laugh and a sob.

"You did it!" Susan gasped, "Hold on a moment, I'll be-"

Across the cave, Barbara could see Susan wriggle onto her stomach and then push off the ground with her forehead, kneeling on the ground now. They met eyes and then watched the Doctor do the same.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" the Doctor exclaimed, resting her back against the wall, "Chestnut, sit up, we'll all figure out how to untie these things."

Jan didn't respond for a second, and then she swallowed audibly. "I don't- I'm not sure I can..."

"It's easy, Miss Chesterton," Susan said, hopping toward her, "You just roll or squirm or-"

"Are you injured?" the Doctor asked. Slowly, Jan nodded. "What happened?"

"I don't know, I think- I'm not sure. Just give me a moment, I- I'll try in a moment."

"We'll figure out how to get our wrists out of the bindings, then we'll help you," Barbara suggested, offering a comforting smile even though she knew Jan couldn't see her.

"Hmm!" the Doctor said, "Good thinking, Miss Wright. Susan, you've got small wrists, any chance you can just slip out and untie the rest of us?"

Susan sounded like she struggled to try for a minute, before huffing out a sigh. "No. Sorry, Grandmother."

"Could you get your arms to the front of your body, maybe?" Barbara asked, "You know, swing them under your legs, or... or something."

"Oh, like a skipping rope!" Susan said, and Barbara could see dust flying in the air and catching the light as Susan struggled to try and move her arms. After what seemed like eternity, she let out a cheer of triumph.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, "You did it!?"

"I did it!"

"Wonderful, Susan!"

"Oh now this is easier!" Susan said, and Barbara could tell in the darkness that Susan had started pulling on the bindings with her teeth. But another forever later, Susan sighed in frustration. "They're too strong. I can't do it."

"It's alright, Susan, we'll figure something else out," the Doctor said, though her voice betrayed her returning fear.

Barbara licked her lips and stammered out a few nonsense noises for a second. "Maybe we could try and find rocks to cut the bindings with?"

"There's some pieces over here, hang on just a second, I'll get them," Susan said, moving to drop onto her hands and knees. But in her haste she pitched forward, landing with a gasp facing the cave wall.

And she let out a _blood curdling_ scream.

"What!? What's wrong!?" Barbara asked as Susan scrambled backwards, "Susan, what is it!? Are you alright!?"

"Grandmother, look! Oh God, that's gonna be us!" she screamed, grabbing onto the Doctor and burying her face in her shoulder, "We have to get out of here, we _have to leave right now!_ "

Fear took hold of Barbara's stomach. "Jan, Jan what's going on?"

"Good lord, they're _everywhere_ ," the Doctor gasped, "Shattered. Split. We have to get out. Fast."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Barbara cried.

"God, Barbara look at the walls," Jan said. Barbara turned to look at the wall nearest to her, and she froze in shock.

It wasn't tumbling rocks that made up the walls. It was _human bones.  
_

 

* * *

 

Everyone in the cave slept.

Children huddled in small piles under larger furs, the elders sleeping side by side, the younger men and women asleep near the entrance of the cave in case of intruders. It was cold. _Freezing._ Not a soul could avoid the bone rattling chill that seeped into their skin and settled over them, making them shiver.

 _But this is how it always had been._ Mother had lived through the cold since she was born. She had _survived_ the cold her whole life. Until the firemaker, the people of her tribe knew how to survive through the cold. Now, they were weak.

The weak do not survive.

Bare feet silent on the icy stone floor, Mother crept along the wall of the cave until she stood over Za's sleeping form. She felt a pang of sadness in her chest. _Son... Look how your father has corrupted you._ She slipped her hand between his arm and his body, hand wrapping around his knife.

 _We must live as we always have._ She would do what she had to. No matter the cost.

 

* * *

 

"It's no good, it keeps crumbling," Barbara sighed, tossing the broken piece of flint aside. Susan's shoulders drooped, casting her eyes away from Barbara. "Susan, would you find another sharp piece?"

Nodding, Susan crawled awkwardly back toward the wall behind her, picking up and feeling at pieces of rock that littered the ground among the bones. She paused, seeming to think, then grabbed one of them and crawled to sit facing Barbara again. Holding her hand out, Barbara could tell what she'd gotten was a piece of one of the shattered skulls.

"It seems more sturdy than the rocks," Susan said, and Barbara took the flat piece of bone from her. She was right. It was harder and sharper than the rocks they had been using before.

"Good thinking, Susan."

As Barbara started to saw at the bindings, she could hear the Doctor sighing heavily behind her.

"It's no use. Even if we get these off, there's no way in hell we'll be able to move that damn rock," she said. Barbara tried to ignore her, gripping Susan's wrists tighter.

"There's air coming in here from somewhere," Jan tried, and Barbara glanced back to smile at her.

"I was thinking the same. I can feel it on my face."

The Doctor just groaned. "You're probably feeling that up there," she pointed at the point where the two rocks came together, moonlight streaming in. Barbara shook her head.

"No, it's coming from somewhere level with us. I just don't know where."

Susan flinched when the bone slipped and cut her hand, but didn't say anything.

"It may just be a small opening, though. Don't count on it," Jan said. It earned a bitter laugh from the Doctor.

" _Don't count on it._ You certainly seem to be."

"Of course I am!" Jan snapped, and Barbara saw out of the corner of her eye that Jan actually moved her head to glare at the Doctor, "Any hope is better than none, maybe if you would stop criticizing us this would all seem easier!"

Heavy silence filled the cave, bone hovering over Susan's bindings. Then, the Doctor sighed.

"Right, I- sorry. No more wasting time. Chesterfield, I'll help you get free," she said, earning a surprised sound from both Jan and Barbara.

"Why me? Try yourself first."

But the Doctor had already crawled to her side with skull-piece in hand, adjusting so she could hold onto Jan's wrist. "I saw you beat down those cave men. Even injured, you're definitely the strongest of us, and we might need you to defend us should the time come."

"Right. Okay."

She started sawing at the bindings, but stopped when she saw Barbara hadn't picked up where she left off on Susan's. "Barbara, keep going."

"I- sorry, right," Barbara muttered, beginning to work at Susan's wrists again.

"And don't think of failing. Those sorts of thoughts can ruin us."

Barbara looked back at the Doctor, surprised. "You... what?"

"Just don't think about cutting the bindings," the Doctor shrugged, still staring intently at Jan's arms, "Try and focus on... oh I don't know, how you got here from the TARDIS. Think about that, instead."

"You're trying to help me," Barbara said, shock evident in her voice.

The Doctor paused, pursing her lips, but didn't look up at Barbara. "Fear makes companions of us all, Miss Wright."

"You're afraid too." The realization came out as more of a statement than a question, and the Doctor let out a grim chuckle.

"I am. Fear is always with us, I suppose. But so is the balancing emotion that comes along with it."

"What's that?" Barbara asked.

The Doctor smiled. "As Miss Chesterton said earlier. _Hope._ "

Before any of them could appreciate the Doctor's rare slip of kindness, there was the sound of rocks tumbling and brush rustling, and an old woman from the cave leapt into the room.

Susan screamed, scrambling back as the woman walked toward them, a knife raised above her head.

"You... will _not_ make fire."

 

* * *

 

"You _saw_ her take my knife?"

Hur nodded, making Za growl in anger, pushing her backwards, "And you did nothing to stop her!? She is old, you could have killed her!"

"Why would she take it? I'm asking you _why_ ," Hur insisted, "She took it, left the cave. She's going to _kill the strangers_ , Za!"

"Did she say this?" Za asked, shocked. Hur shook her head, gritting her teeth.

"She took your knife. She is afraid of the fire."

Za growled at her again. "You should have _stopped her._ "

" _No_. Za, hear me," Hur said, putting her face closer to his ear and pointing, "Kal was in the cave as she took your knife. Leaders are meant to be awake when the others are asleep. If she kills them, there will be _no_ fire. But..."

"If I stop her from killing them, they will give the fire to _me_ and not Kal," Za realized with wide eyes, "But how would she get into the cave? She is old, she could not have moved the great rock herself. And yet-"

They looked at each other and then back toward the tunnel leading to the Cave of Skulls.

"That's mother's voice. She's talking to the strangers!"

 

* * *

 

"Out into the forest, that is where you will leave. Never return," the old woman finished cutting the last of the restraints - the Doctor's - and crept back to where she'd entered, "Through this passage. Crawl. And since I have helped you escape, you will not make fire."

Susan went in first, followed by Barbara, then Jan, and the Doctor squeezed the old woman's shoulder. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

The old woman barely cracked a smile. "No fire."

"No fire," the Doctor agreed, both of them whipping around when they heard the rock at the entry to the cave start to grind open, "Goodbye. And good luck."

The Doctor had barely disappeared into the shadows when Za and Hur burst in, sweating from their task of moving the rock. Za looked _enraged,_ grabbing the old woman by the arm and throwing her onto the ground. "You have helped the strangers escape!" he roared.

"They would have made fire!"

Hur ran to the break in the wall, hissing. "They have gone into the night, they have taken the fire with them!"

"We must go after them," Za said, but he was stopped when the old woman pulled him back by his furs, "Foolish old woman!"

"They will be attacked and eaten by the beasts, Za! If you go after them, you will be too," she told him, and he seemed to falter. Hur yanked harshly on his arm, taking his knife from the ground where Mother had left it and handing it back to him.

"Do not be tricked, you are leader! You are stronger than the beasts. Stronger than _Kal._ "

* * *

The forest was darker and denser than anything Jan had ever seen. Coming _toward_ the cave had been so much different; they'd had some sort of a path to go off of, daylight, and they weren't utterly exhausted from trying to break out of captivity for what had to be hours.

Barbara was in the lead, running and pushing through the brush with Susan close behind her, both of them stumbling over roots and sticks and dirt.

Jan was trying to ignore the sharp pain in her ribs, but it was growing increasingly worse as she ran, every step feeling like someone was striking her. She shook her head to clear it and continued after Barbara and Susan.

"Stop, wait!" the Doctor's voice made Jan turn around and slow, seeing the woman was much further behind than she had been before, "I have to catch my breath, give me a minute."

"We can't stop here, Doctor!" Jan said, voice snappier than she meant it to be, "C'mon, we have to keep moving."

"Oh Grandmother, please!" Susan cried as she backtracked to where Jan and the Doctor had stopped.

The Doctor waved a hand around at her. "I'm not as young as you all are."

"Get up, Doctor, or I'll carry you," Jan said with an edge of a threat on the words, but the Doctor just laughed humorlessly and pushed her arm; unaware of the hot spike of pain it sent up Jan's back, making her stifle a gasp.

"Oh don't be childish, I'm not senile. I just need to catch my breath."

Susan wrapped her arms around herself and shivered, "It's so _cold_."

"Here, Susan, take my jacket," Barbara pulled her jacket off and slung it over Susan's shoulders, a chill running down her spine at the sudden cool air on her arms. A noise sounded in the distance and Barbara shrieked, grabbing ahold of Jan's hand. "What was that!? What the _hell_ was that- God, Jan, we're going to _die_ out here!" Barbara's voice cracked on the last word, and Jan pulled her into a hug that made her ribs ache.

"No. No, we're not, we're not-" Jan pulled Barbara away by the shoulders, looking into her eyes with a smile, "We're free, Barbara. Just think of that. _Free._ "

She nodded, wiping the tears out of her eyes. "Yes- yes, free, right. Right."

"Are we sure this is the right way?" Susan asked, helping the Doctor to her feet, "I'm sure we passed this, but- I can't remember if we came from the left of it or the right of it."

Barbara and Jan started forward, squinting to try and make out whatever Susan was pointing at.

"Yes, I remember this, we came across it not too far into the forest," Barbara said. Jan breathed a sigh of relief.

"That means we're not too far from the ship."

The sounds of growls and howling from somewhere in the distance made them both jump back. "We need to hurry," Jan said, grasping Barbara's hand firmly in her own, "Let's go."

 

* * *

 

After another half an hour of walking and running, they all knew they'd either gone the wrong way or they were further away from the TARDIS than they originally thought.

"I mean... I- I recognize this trail, somewhat," Barbara said, pausing to let the Doctor and Susan catch up. When they did, Jan put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Are you going to be alright going much further?" she asked in a hushed tone, but the Doctor batted her hand away and marched past her, "I was just _asking!_ "

"Stop treating me like the weakest member of the group, young lady!" she snapped. Barbara let out a small gasp. "What is it, Miss Wright?"

Barbara didn't answer, she just stared out into the dark expanse of the forest with a look of dread on her face. Jan came to stand next to her, putting a hand on her waist in concern.

"Do you see something, Barbara?" she asked, trying to find whatever Barbara was looking at.

"No, I- I thought I saw something. In the bushes, it-" Without warning, Barbara burst into tears, throwing herself against Jan's chest with a scream. "We're never getting out of this awful place, never, never, _never-_ "

"Barbara," Jan tried, hugging her tight, but Barbara just let out another sob.

"What do you think it was, grandmother?" Susan asked, stepping closer to the Doctor. But the Doctor just sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"Imagination, child. The dark makes us see things," she said.

Barbara pulled out of Jan's arms and whirled around, storming toward the Doctor with tears still streaming down her face. "Don't you tell me it was my bloody imagination, don't you _tell me!_ That I'm imagining things, I'm not- I saw something in the bushes and- _God,_ Jan, what's happening to us!?" she cried, anger fading away as quickly as it had come. She dropped to her knees, whimpering pathetically. "We're going to die out here. We're going to die. We're going to _die-_ "

"Oh _shut up, Miss Wright_! JUST _SHUT UP!_ " Susan screamed, voice mangled with frustration and fear.

"Don't you talk to her that way!" Jan found herself shoved backwards by the Doctor just seconds after the words left her mouth.

"Raise your voice at my granddaughter again and I'll bash your fucking head in, hear me!?"

Jan laughed. "Oh that would be a lovely top off for the day, wouldn't it! Kidnapped _and_ murdered!"

"You _broke into my home-_ "

"And _you_ refused to let us go!"

"Stop it, stop!" Susan cried, pulling the Doctor away from Jan, "Stop fighting, please stop fighting!"

"We're never getting out of here..." Barbara whimpered.

The Doctor yanked her arm free of Susan's grasp and pushed Jan in the chest, backing her up the trail, "Of all the fucking ignorant, half brained, dim witted _clowns_ I had to get trapped here with, of _course_ it's someone as insolent and pig headed as _you!_ We wouldn't even _be here_ if it wasn't for you!"

"Oh it's _my fault,_ is it!?"

"STOP, BOTH OF YOU!"

Jan and the Doctor stopped at Susan's scream this time, something overcoming their bodies. Neither could move or speak. They both turned toward, Susan. Moonlight made the tears on her cheeks glow.

" _Please_ stop. We have to get out of here, we have to _help each other_ ," she cried, then crouched down next to Barbara, "Miss Wright, we need to keep going. Can you stand up?"

Barbara nodded and Susan helped her to her feet, holding her hand and walking her over to Jan. Then she walked back to the Doctor's side and stood there quietly, shivering.

"Right, um..." Jan started, supporting arm around Barbara, "Susan, Doctor, you two take the front now. Susan seems to know the path better than Barbara and I. We'll bring up the rear. They've probably followed us, which means we can rest, but not for long periods of time. Just... let's just focus on getting back to the ship."

"You seem to have elected yourself leader of this little party, haven't you?" the Doctor said with an edge to her voice, but Susan gave her a dirty look. Sighing, the Doctor put her hands up in defeat. "Fine, fine. But I want you to know that I'm not going to be following your orders blindly."

"Y'know," Jan began as they started back down the dark path, "If it was just the two of us, you'd find your own way back to the ship."

The Doctor just scoffed, speeding up to catch up with Susan. "Aren't you a tiresome young woman?"

"And you're a stubborn _old_ woman."

"Hmm."

 

* * *

 

Za sniffed the air, watching Hur examine the ground. She suddenly grabbed his ankle and pointed.

"Look there. This branch is broken," Hur brought her face close to the ground then looked up into the trees, "They walked through this way. The mud saves the prints of their feet."

Looking at the mud and touching his hand to the indents, Za grunted. "They have strange feet."

"You saw it, they wear skins on their feet," Hur said, and with another sniff of the air, she crawled on all fours toward the next set of prints, "More... they went this way."

"There are prints that move this way as well... which way did they go?" Za grabbed a fistful of mud and slammed it into a nearby tree, "They will escape!" A roar from somewhere in the distance made Za's skin crawl. "It was a mistake to follow them. We will be killed by the beasts!"

"Shh!" Hur clamped her hand over his mouth, listening carefully. Before Za could demand to know what was going on, they both heard a blood curling scream. "One of the women!"

 

* * *

 

"Shh, shh, Barbara!"

"Foolish girl!"

Jan's hand covered Barbara's mouth; she tasted dirt and blood. The dead boar in the path had been ripped nearly in half, blood splattered over the trees and wetting the ground. Barbara pulled out of Jan's arms, landing an elbow to her ribs that made her double over and gasp.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I _fell-_ " Barbara frantically wiped her blood stained hands on her skirt, but it didn't matter; she'd fallen flat on the ground with a scream. Her hands, her knees, her clothes - all wet with blood and grime and mud. She gagged at the stench, backing away from the boar. "We've got to keep going, whatever- whatever killed that thing is probably close."

"Barbara's right. Let's go," Jan stopped when the Doctor grabbed her arm.

"I hear branches snapping coming from that direction," the Doctor pointed to where they'd just come from, voice hushed, "I was correct in assuming they followed us. Miss Wright's scream must've given us away."

" _My_ scream gave us away? What about you two arguing an-"

"Shh!" Jan's hand went up to cover Barbara's mouth again, but it was slapped away, "They're close. I hear voices."

The four of them froze for a moment, looking around frantically for where to hide. A roar, followed by a howl of pain made them stop, confused. The Doctor gestured to them all. "Now's our chance, let's go!"

"No, wait, shh!" Barbara hissed, and they all listened with hearts pounding. Whatever heavy beast had roared could be heard getting further and further away, lumbering into the distance, leaving a man crying in pain and a woman wailing in it's wake. Barbara looked to Jan, shaking her head. They seemed to be in silent agreement. "We've got to help them."

"Are you fucking _mad!?_ " the Doctor was at her wit's end, it seemed, "It could be a trap, you fools, they could be waiting over there to pounce on us with sticks and rocks!"

Jan swallowed thickly as a wave of dizziness hit her like it had in the TARDIS, considering what the Doctor was saying. "Maybe... maybe the Doctor's right, Barbara. We should go."

"What!?" Barbara pulled her arm away from Jan in disgust, "No! No, that thing clearly hurt one of them, maybe both of them-"

"Barbara-"

"We can't just leave them here! If-"

" _Barbara-_ "

"- they're wounded there isn't any danger, Jan, _please-_ "

"Barbara, for heaven's sake!"

" _Jan!_ " Barbara's eyes were wet again, tears starting to drip clean the streaks of dirt and blood off her face, "Jan please. We've got to help them."

Jan took an aching breath and let out a sigh. "She's right. Shit. She's right, we're going to help them, you two get back to the ship."

"No, I'm coming with you!" Susan exclaimed as she ran to Jan's side. The Doctor spluttered.

"Child, don't be ridiculous!"

"Grandmother, we've got to help them!"

"Silence! You're coming back to the ship with me!"

" _No!_ "

"You-" the Doctor heard the snap of a twig underfoot and looked over to see Barbara and Jan already making their way toward the cavemen's voices, "What the hell are they doing!? They're out of their fucking minds!"

 

* * *

 

Cautiously, hands raised, Barbara and Jan approached the two figures on the ground.

One - the bearded man they'd heard called Za in the caves - had been torn at the midsection by something's claws, bloody and bruised. He was tensed up, fingers digging into the wet ground around him as he stared up at the trees and sky with wide, terrified eyes. The woman - Hur - was crouched next to him, hunched over and sobbing, though she was clearly too afraid to touch him.

Jan's foot landed on a twig, and Hur's head snapped up at the sound, hissing defensively.

"Stay back!" she growled, brandishing a jagged flint knife, "Keep away!"

"Just let me look at him," Jan kept course toward Za, hands raised, staring at Hur and her knife.

"No!"

Jan lowered herself to the ground slowly, _slowly_ , putting on her friendliest, softest face. "I'm not going to hurt him further, I promise," when Hur still looked suspicious, Jan smiled at her, "I'm your friend. You understand? Friend. I want to help."

Hur looked her up and down, knife starting to fall back to her side, "Friend?"

"Friend. I need to look at his wounds to help him, yes?" Jan continued to slowly edge closer, until she was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Hur. As she reached to pull Za's skin off, she quickly found the knife at her throat. She raised her hands again. "I'm only going to help, I promise."

"Promise?"

Jan nodded slowly, "Promise."

Hur took the knife from Jan's neck and shuffled back a bit, still watching carefully. Jan took the ripped skins and pulled up on them, swallowing thick when they stuck, and Za whimpered.

"Barbara-" she took a deep breath and looked away from the bloody wound, feeling bile rising in her throat, "Barbara, do you have- do you have scissors or- or a knife, or-"

"No, I don't, I'm sorry," Barbara knelt down next to Jan and then glanced up, "Hang on, use hers."

"She will not use my knife," Hur growled.

Jan sighed and rubbed her eyes, only realizing now that her head felt like it was splitting open from sleep deprivation. "We need to cut his clothes off him. _Please_ , Ma'am, we need your knife."

"You will not use my knife," she repeated. But after a second, she relented and handed it over, "I will break you if you harm him."

" _Thank you,_ " Jan sighed, taking the knife and Za's clothes back into her hands. Slowly, pausing every time Za moved, she cut the blood-stained hide away from his skin and tossed it to the side. After what seemed like eternity, his wound was all uncovered and she began to try and assess the damage.

"Can you see?" Barbara asked, and Jan pursed her lips.

"I can see enough. Can you find water? Or- or something I can use to- to put pressure on this with? And then- shit, I need something to- to sterilize it with or- no, I need- I need a needle and thread, or- or-"

"Hey. You've got this," Barbara reached across and pulled Jan's handkerchief out of her right chest pocket. Her voice alone made Jan relax. "Use this. I'll see if my flask is still in my pocket, hang on-"

"Where are you going?"

"Susan's wearing my jacket. I'll be right back."

Jan wouldn't admit to the spike of anxiety that shot through her chest as Barbara disappeared back to where they'd come from, leaving her alone with Hur and Za. She swallowed and unfolded her handkerchief, trying to keep her breathing as regular as possible.

"I'm going to put pressure on his wound, alright?" she said in her most even tone, "It's going to hurt him, but I promise it's helping. I _promise_."

Hur stared for a long moment, then grunted what Jan assumed was approval. She took a deep breath and sat up on her knees, leaning over Za with her handkerchief in hand. "This is going to hurt, um... sir. Right. Okay."

With a deep breath, Jan dropped the handkerchief over his wound and pressed down hard.

Za screamed and seized up, kicking his legs and flailing pathetically. Jan clenched her jaw and kept pressing down. After a moment, he settled back into just breathing in gasps, clenching and unclenching his fists as Jan continued to hold his stomach.

Then she jumped when she felt a hand on her side. Hur was staring at her again.

"What?" she asked with much more snap in her voice than she meant.

Hur shook her head. "Your skins are so strange. You speak like no one we have heard before, with words that mean nothing to us but something to you. You can make _fire._ Who are you? How did you get here?"

"We're..." Jan stopped and felt herself deflate, "We're just people, I-" she _almost_ choked on her words, "I don't know how we got here."

Before Hur could say anything else, there was the sounds of several people walking toward them. Jan and Hur both looked up; Barbara was returning, Susan at her side and the Doctor straying behind, but still coming.

Barbara held her flask out to Jan, kneeling back on the ground, "Here, there's about half of it left-"

"Drink much during the day?"

"I teach two more classes than you _and_ I tutor after school. Hush," for the first time in what felt like forever, Barbara genuinely smiled. Then, she handed over a long pin and a balled up roll of thread. "The Doctor had it in her pocket. Lord knows what else she has in there. Of course no matches, though."

"Is he alright?" Susan asked, plunking herself down on the other side of Za.

"He will be," Jan nodded to Barbara so she'd take over pressing down on the wounds while she threaded the needle. Her hands were shaking so badly she almost couldn't.

Once she'd gotten it done, she unscrewed the flask and took a swig, steeling herself. "Barbara, when I give you the go, take the pressure off. Then hold his shoulder. Susan, take the other shoulder. You... um... _Za?_ " she looked to Hur for confirmation, "Right. Mr. Za, this is going to hurt like a son of a bitch, but it's what's going to save you, alright?"

"What are you _doing?_ " the Doctor's voice felt grating against her ears.

"I'm going to stitch his wound. Is there antiseptic on the ship that's better than whiskey?" she asked. The Doctor shrugged and nodded, but still looked perplexed.

"Of course there is."

"Lots!" Susan chimed in.

" _Why?_ " the Doctor demanded, "Just a minute ago we were trying to get _away_ from these savages, and now-"

"Now we're helping them. Simple as that. You're a doctor, why aren't _you_ doing anything?"

The Doctor just scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I'm not a doctor of medicine."

"Right. Anyway, we're doing this whether you like it or not. Ready, Barbara? Susan?" she hesitated, needle feeling heavy in her hands, then shook her head and swallowed. "Barbara, now."

It all happened in a blur; Barbara pulled the handkerchief away from Za's stomach, and Jan flipped the flask, dousing the wound in whiskey. Za let out a guttural scream, thrashing and shaking, but pinned down by Barbara and Susan. Jan put her knee over his thighs, half-kneeling on him, and almost dropped the needle twice as she started to sew up the wound.

The whole process couldn't have taken more than two minutes, but with Za screaming and crying, with Susan and Barbara struggling to keep him down, with Jan fumbling over the needle with shaking hands... it felt like forever.

But finally, Jan tied off the stitches and bit the thread between her front teeth to rip it, waiting until Za had stopped fighting to remove her knee.

All of them breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back. After a long moment of silence, Hur crawled forward and let her hand hover curiously over Za's now stitched up wound, looking like she wanted to touch it but she was too afraid. She gazed at the four of them in amazement.

"You... you have sealed him back together," she murmured, " _How..._ "

Jan shrugged. "Well it's simple really, I just-"

She was cut off when Hur grabbed her face on either side, pulling her close and licking a stripe up her forehead.

"Friend," Hur smiled. Hesitantly, Jan returned the smile.

"Right. Friend."

"Oh this is wonderful!" Susan broke into a gleeful grin, looking up at the Doctor. "We've made friends with them, Grandmother!"

"Don't be ridiculous, child. We cannot make friends with them."

"Why?" Barbara glared up at the Doctor.

The Doctor squinted at her. "Why what, young lady?"

"Why do you treat _everyone_ like they're less important than you?"

"You're trying to say that everything you do is reasonable, and everything I do is inhuman, hm?" the Doctor was sneering, "Well, I'm afraid it's _your_ judgement that's at fault, Miss Wright, not mine. Haven't you realized if these two can follow us, any of them can? The whole tribe might descend upon us at any moment!"

Hur snatched her knife from the ground next to Jan and pointed it toward the Doctor. "The tribe is asleep."

"And what about the old woman who cut our bonds?" the Doctor asked, smiling condescendingly at the others, "Don't you understand? Even if we aren't attacked by the rest of the tribe, look at what happened to this motherfucker! That creature is still out there, and we're sitting here playing nurse!"

Barbara opened her mouth to argue, but Jan put a hand on her chest. "She's right, we're too exposed here."

" _Thank you_ , Chambleton-"

"We'll take Za and Hur back to the ship."

" _Excuse me!?_ "

"Barbara, give me your coat, Susan, try to find two branches that are relatively straight," Jan said, standing and stripping off her coat. The Doctor spluttered, face contorted with anger and confusion.

"You're not going to take them back to the ship, _my ship_ -" she said.

No one was listening.

 

* * *

 

"The creatures! Where!? _Where_ _!?_ "

Kal's roar echoed around the cave of skulls, making Mother jump back. But she regained her bearings quickly and spat at him. "They are _gone!_ They will never make fire for you!"

"How did they move the great stone? It's impossible from within the cave!" Kal turned on her, grabbing her by the front of the skins and dragging her up to eye level, "They were bound with skins at the hands and feet, they could not have... _Za!_ Za has helped them escape?" When he got no answer, Kal growled and threw Mother to the ground. "You will tell me where your son has gone, old woman!"

"I will tell you _nothing!_ " Mother snarled. Kal hit her across the face, sending her back to the ground. "You are foolish to try and bring fire back to our cave. It will be our _ruin!_ "

"You are helping them too! I can trust _no one_ in this tribe!" Kal brandished his knife and stalked toward Mother, "There _will_ be fire. You will not stop us."

 

* * *

 

A solid half an hour later, according to the Doctor's pocket watch, they'd finished building a makeshift stretcher to carry Za with. The Doctor, of course, hadn't helped at all, much to the chagrin of the rest of the group.

"Hur, you know him well," Jan said, wiping sweat and grime off her forehead with the back of her sleeve, "Could you roll him over onto the stretcher? He might take better to you trying than any of us."

Nodding, Hur crawled over to Za and helped him shift so he was lying on the stretcher. There was a surprising lack of screaming. "Where do you take us?" Hur asked as Jan adjusted several pieces of the stretcher.

"We came here in a- well, a sort of vessel that takes people places. It's safe," she glanced up at the Doctor, eyes narrowing, "I think. Doctor, why don't you give us a hand over here?" When the Doctor just made a noise and turned away, Jan rolled her eyes. "What is her _problem?_ "

"Don't worry about it, Miss Chesterton," Susan sighed, "She always gets like this if she doesn't get her way."

"Doctor, the old woman won't give us away, if you're still worrying about that," Barbara said with a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. She shrugged her off. "Fine. Is the stretcher looking alright, Jan?"

Jan took a deep breath as she sat up, wincing and touching her ribs. "It looks like he'll be secure on it 'til we get to the ship."

"The sun's starting to come up, we ought to hurry," Barbara said, "Here, Susan, you take one side I'll take the other."

"What? Let me do that, Barbara," Jan said, leaning down to pick up a side of the stretcher. Barbara shooed her away.

"You're _hurt_ , Jan, I don't want you to injure yourself even more when all of us can do it," she grasped the two branches in her hands and watched Susan take the other ones, "We'll go on three. Ready? One... two... _three-_ "

The two of them lifted, but Susan couldn't bear the weight and had to set him down after a second, sheepishly staring at her shoes. "I'm sorry. I- I don't usually do very much heavy lifting."

"It's alright, Susan. Doctor, could you give it a try?" Barbara asked, but the Doctor just scoffed.

"Absolutely not."

" _Doctor-_ "

"I'm an old woman, you expect me to carry him? Absolutely not," the Doctor snapped with an obvious side eye toward Jan. "Let the younger members of the party do their part."

Taking the hint, Jan waved Barbara off, walking to the opposite side of the stretcher. "I can do it, Barbara, really. Don't worry about me."

"Right. Lift on three?" Barbara said, both of them taking hold of the branches, "One... two... _three!_ "

They both lifted.

Jan barely registered her own scream as the world flashed dark and white-hot pain seared through her chest. She came back to moments later and found herself doubled over on her knees, tears blurring out her vision as the Doctor spoke garbled words that she couldn't understand through the throbbing of her ribs. The Doctor's hand was suddenly on her ribcage and she let out a strangled sob, trying and failing to push the Doctor off her.

"...very odd indeed. I'd recon about half of them are missing."

" _Missing?_ "

"Oh- grandmother, no, humans don't have as many ribs as we do."

"Ah, that explains it. Come now, Miss Chesterton, do you think you can stand?"

Jan managed to lift her head to look at them as the pain started to fade back into an ache, and took a shallow breath. Anything more hurt like hell. "I think- just- just give me a minute."

"The edge of the trees is just a few meters away, we couldn't see it in the dark, but we're so close!" Susan smiled, bouncing over and taking one of Jan's hands into her own, "We can afford to wait a few more minutes. Everything is going to be fine."

 

* * *

 

Kal pointed to Mother, lying dead in the cave of skulls. "Za killed his own mother. And he and Hur have helped the creatures escape, we must go after them!"

Horg shook his head. "Hur would not do such a thing. She is loyal."

"Don't you see!? Za has killed the old woman and he has taken the fire away from us! He is not fit to be leader!" Kal yelled, pounding a fist against the wall of bones. "I saw it with my own eyes, Za and Hur moved the great stone to free the creatures! When the old woman came to stop them they killed her!"

"Your eyes... your eyes saw this?" Horg asked in disbelief. Kal nodded solemnly, "If your eyes have seen it, it must be truth. Kal... Za can no longer be leader."

" _I_ will be leader. We must follow the creatures to make our fire."

Horg nodded. "It... it is for the best."

"Gather hunters. I know where their cave is, that is where I found the old one. They will not escape with our fire."

 

* * *

 

"Come on, we're so close!" Susan cried with glee, bounding forward. The Doctor grunted under the weight of the stretcher, sweat rolling down her face as the sun rose above the horizon. "We can't give up now, grandmother, just push on, come on!"

"You wouldn't be so chipper if you were the one carrying this thing," the Doctor snapped, but was cut off when Susan gasped in excitement.

"I can see the TARDIS!" she shouted. But the thrill was short lived, because not a second after the words left her mouth, the group found themselves surrounded by the tribe hunters, Kal at the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmu @lesbiantwelve on tungle if u Enjoyed


	4. The Firemaker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> waelcome to part 4!!! if no one is reading this?? that's ok! because this is purely for My Fun and i am having so much fun. BUT if u do drop a comment i will absolutely adore you!!
> 
> am i gonna do the daleks next whether i get feedback on this or not? BET

The four travelers' screaming had faded long before they got back to the cave; they seemed to have accepted their imminent death.

Kal rubbed at his jaw where the attractive pale skinned woman with the enormous hair had punched him, snarling and watching the others gather to hear word of what had happened. Hur helped Za sit down on a rock near the wall of the cave next to where the strangers had been pushed down to their knees. She looked to be shushing the smallest girl, who was crying loudly. _Weak..._

"See what has happened? See with your eyes?" Kal said to the others, "Za and Hur went with them. I, Kal, have stopped them. Does a leader abandon his people for strangers?"

"They are no strangers!" Hur spoke up, putting a protective arm around the small crying girl. Everyone turned to look at her, confusion and suspicion on their faces. Hur pulled the girl tighter to her side. "They saved Za by the stream! He was attacked by the beast!"

Kal just scoffed. "He would not have been in danger had the two of you not cut their bonds and helped them escape!"

" _We_ help with their escape?" Hur hissed.

"That old woman cut our bonds-"

Kal backhanded the big-haired pale woman, sending her to the ground. "Za is so weak he lets a woman speak for him. A woman _stranger!_ "

"The woman stranger will speak as she pleases!" Hur snapped, "She speaks the truth! It was Zun, the old woman, who cut them free!"

"They lie! The old woman will not speak for what she has done or not done, for she is dead! I found her in the cave, Za had stabbed her to death with his knife!"

Murmurs and gasps shot through the crowd as Hur jumped to her feet.

"LIAR!"

"Za is the one who killed the old woman! Killed his mother! Killed her with his knife!" Kal shoved Hur out of the way and jerked Za's knife out of his boot, displaying it for the crowd, "This knife! Killed her with _this_ knife!"

There was a cough from behind him, and Kal turned to see the grey haired woman from the hole standing up and folding her arms across her chest. She walked forward, too confident, too bold; Kal was almost intimidated. Then, after a second of staring at Za's knife, she let out a chuckle.

" _This_ is the knife you claim Za killed his mother with?" she asked.

"I claim nothing. I speak the truth."

"Of course," the woman smiled, and plucked the knife out of Kal's hands, spinning back toward the crowd before he could take it back. She held it up to the crowd. "If Za killed the old woman with this knife, where is her blood? I don't see a single drop on it."

Kal growled and tried to snatch the knife out of her hands, only to have it pulled out of his reach. "It is a bad knife! It does not show what it has done!"

"Bad knife?" she scoffed, "Really? It looks to me like a perfectly good knife. Yes, yes indeed. I don't believe I've ever seen a finer knife."

"I will show you a better knife, foolish woman!" Kal reached to his side and pulled his knife out of his belt, brandishing it in the woman's direction. It was only when the crowd started talking in confused and frightened voices that Kal realized the knife was still covered in the old woman's blood.

"My, my, my!" she said, "This knife certainly shows what it did! Za, who killed the old woman?"

Weakly, Za stood up and sneered at Kal. "I did not kill her."

"You heard him, Kal is the one that killed the old woman!"

Za and the woman walked forward, starting to back Kal toward the wall. His face contorted in rage and desperation. "Yes, it's true, I killed her!" the crowd's murmuring turned aggressive, "I killed her because she freed the strangers!"

"Oh, lovely sentiment! Is this your leader!?" the woman yelled out to the others, "One who kills old women and lies about it!? Is this your leader!? He is a _bad_ leader, he will kill you all! All!" Kal's back hit a wall as he watched her lean down and pick up a handful of rocks, "Drive him out! Drive him out, I say! Follow my lead!"

The old woman took the largest rock in her hands and threw it at him with strength old women shouldn't have. It hit Kal in the forehead and he ducked the next one she threw.

"Drive him out!" the old woman whispered something to her stranger friends and they all began to imitate her, picking up stones and throwing them at Kal, repeating the phrase,

"He's no leader, drive him out!"

Kal couldn't stop the rocks from pelting him as more and more of the tribe began following their lead; he stumbled his way to the entrance of the cave, slipping and falling to his hands and knees more than once as the barrage of rocks rained down on him. One of the girls spit in his face when he turned to look behind him, and when he saw Hur pull out her knife, Kal ran.

The shouting escalated to a roar as they chased Kal out of the cave, waiting until he had disappeared into the distance to settle down. Za dropped the rocks in his hands and pressed against his wound with a hiss. Jan touched his arm.

"See? Kal isn't stronger than the whole tribe."

Za looked at her with regret, and shrugged her hand off his shoulder, huffing, "Kal is no longer part of the tribe. Hur! Ba! Take them back to the Cave of Skulls. We will keep them there until they show us fire."

"You're _joking-_ "

"Don't struggle," the Doctor had her hand wrapped around Jan's wrist, eyes threatening, "We'll go to the cave willingly. Take us there."

They were walked back into the cave, shut in darkness once again as Hur and Ba closed the great rock. Luckily, they weren't tied up this time, and daylight illuminated the cave better than the moon had. The Doctor shuddered as she looked at the remains scattered and stacked around the cave.

"This place is _evil._ "

 

* * *

 

Za let out a hiss and then a groan, sitting down on a rock away from the others as he clutched his side. Hur sat beside him, one hand holding a wet skin to his wound, the other stroking his hair soothingly. Za let his head fall against her shoulder.

"Tell me what happened after I fought the beast in the forest," he muttered. Hur shifted.

"You were stronger than the beast. It left with your axe in its head. But it opened you with its claw before it ran," she said, and Za winced when she pressed down harder on his wound, "I believed you were dead. You _should have been_ dead."

"The strangers?"

"The dark eyed one approached you, but she did not kill," Hur said with a fond smile edging onto her lips, "She told me her name."

Za looked surprised. "Her name?"

"Her name is Friend. The large-haired pale skin woman is named Ba Ba-Ra," Hur told him, "They put you back together. Shut you where you had been opened."

"How?"

Hur blinked and shook her head, still in awe of what had happened. "I do not know. They wanted to take you back to their cave. Said they would protect you."

"Their cave is over the mountains? That is where their tribe lives?" Za asked, but Hur blew a sharp breath out of her nose.

"Nothing lives over the mountains. I do not know where they come from."

"Tell me more of what happened."

"I did not understand them. Their hands moved slowly and their faces were not fierce," Hur closed her eyes and rested her head against the cave wall, "It was like... a _mother_ , guarding her baby."

They sat against the wall in silence for a long while, each feeling the warmth of the other and taking comfort in it. Then, Za opened his eyes and glanced toward the Cave of Skulls. His face was drawn up in concern. Hur tilted her head at him.

"The young woman, Friend. She spoke to me."

"What did she say?"

Za thought, brow furrowing, "Kal is not stronger than the whole tribe."

"I do not understand," Hur murmured.

"The whole tribe drove Kal away with the stones. The whole tribe can collect more fruit than one. The whole tribe can kill a beast where one of the tribe would die," he said, "She gave me wisdom in just few words."

"Do you think they come from Orb?"

Za growled, using Hur as a crutch to stand up in anger. " _No._ They are a tribe who knows how to make fire, yet refuses to show it to us. Horg speaks true, the leader must know how to make fire. I will _not_ be driven out into the forest like Kal. _I am leader!_ "

"Then you will not kill them?" Hur asked, a hopeful gleam in her eye. Za snarled.

"I must speak with Friend. She is leader of their tribe, and she will have more wisdom for me."

He made it two or three steps before stumbling and grappling at the wall for support, moaning as Hur rushed to help him sit down again.

"You are still hurt..." she murmured, picking up the skin she'd been using to soothe his wound and pressing it to her own cheek, "The skin is dry. I will return with another. _Rest_ , Za. We will speak to Friend soon."

 

* * *

 

"Jan, maybe you should rest."

Barbara was sitting on a human skull with her back against the pile of other bones and remains; her being stained with boars blood and dirt and grime made for a scary sight against the backdrop. Jan huffed out a laugh as she wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist, jacket discarded and sleeves rolled up to the elbows.

"If you're worrying about my ribs, Barbara, you can stop. The Doctor felt around and said they're most likely just bruised," she said. Barbara blew her hair out of her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh don't pout, it's not as if I don't _appreciate_ you fussing."

"You clearly don't!"

"I'm just _busy!_ " Jan took another second to work on starting the fire, then set her sticks down and dug around in her coat pocket for a second. With a smile, she turned to Barbara, "Here!" she tossed a compact mirror and a comb in Barbara's direction, "Fix your bouffant."

Barbara couldn't help but laugh as she picked them up off the ground, "Do you just keep these on you?"

"For _you_ ," Jan grinned, picking up the sticks and starting to work again, "Don't think I've forgotten the 1961 field trip."

"Oh shove _off!_ " Barbara tried her hardest to sound annoyed, but fighting back her smile and giggle was impossible, "You're one to talk, goose hole."

"Oi, I lost a good shoe that day," Jan pointed the stick in Barbara's direction threateningly, before they both burst out in laughter.

"I hope you two are having fun over there while Susan and I actually do some _work_ ," the Doctor snapped from across the cave, still bent over to try and find wood and dry grass on the ground. Susan crawled up to Jan and dropped her haul in the small hole she'd dug in the dirt.

"That what you're looking for, Miss Chesterton?"

Jan set the sticks aside again and dug the grass and twigs out of the hole, spreading them around it, "Thank you, Susan. If you could find more to spread around the outside of the hole..."

"Gotcha!" she crawled off with her eyes on the ground once again. Grass and sticks suddenly dropped down into Jan's lap, and she looked up to see the Doctor standing above her with a sour look on her face.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Chesserton," she said. Jan took a deep breath and turned back to her setup, feeling anxiety creeping back into her chest.

"So do I, Doctor."

 

* * *

 

Jan's watch told her it had been thirty six minutes when the Doctor growled in frustration and threw a skull on the ground with such force that it shattered on impact.

Everyone jumped in shock, turning to look at her as she kicked around other bones and grumbled to herself. No one spoke, silently going back to what they'd been doing before. Jan blew hair out of her eyes, sighing when it stuck to her forehead, and tried to dry her clammy hands off on her shirt before brushing it back.

Barbara had started spitting on her jacket and using it to clean the blood and grime off herself, though it wasn't doing much good. Susan was humming softly to herself, across the cave from the Doctor, who was growing angrier and more frustrated as the minutes ticked away.

The hairs on the back of Jan's neck suddenly stood, a chill running down her spine. She didn't stop rubbing the sticks, but glanced over to the break in the rocks where the old woman had helped them escape. It felt like they were being watched.

" _Miss Chesterton!_ "

Jan yelped. "Susan, don't _do_ that!"

Laughing, Susan crawled in front of Jan to show her the intact human skull that she'd stuck her hand into, jaw strung together with some of the Doctor's twine. "Isn't it silly! I've named him Regis." Before Jan got a chance to answer, Susan gasped and clutched Regis the skull to her chest. "Oh! OH! Keep going, it's smoking, it's smoking!"

"She's right, I smell it!" Barbara exclaimed, tossing the jacket and crawling over to them. "Oh, Jan, it's working!"

"Keep going, my girl!" the Doctor joined them, the four all huddled together, watching as the sticks emitted a trail of smoke into the cold air.

"It's really working!"

"Oh you've done it!"

"Good going, dear girl!"

Jan shushed the others and started adding bits of crumbled leaves before quickly going back to the sticks. "It's a long way off yet."

"But you're _doing it!_ " Susan squealed, "It's really burning!"

"We haven't got a flame," Jan sighed, beads of cold sweat trickling off her face. Barbara rubbed a hand up and down her back.

"We're so close, Jan."

The sound of the rock grinding away from the entrance made everyone freeze, eyes darting up to see Za standing there, silhouetted by the dim light behind him. His face was gaunt and clammy, pale in the moonlight from above as he walked toward the group.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, seeing the sticks at his feet. The Doctor stood and strode toward him.

"Making fire. Don't stop on this one's account, Miss Chesterton," she said with a wave of the hand at Jan, who resumed rubbing the sticks and twine together. "Now then. Did you want something?"

Za pointed a calloused finger at Jan. "You are friend."

"We are all your friends," Barbara said. Za shot her a perplexed glare.

"Hur said _she_ ," he jabbed his finger at Jan again, "Was friend. I am called Za. I am leader of my tribe, and you are leader of yours."

The Doctor scoffed and turned away. Jan wiped her brow, but didn't take her eyes off the pile. "No, she's the leader," she nodded toward the Doctor. Za seemed to contemplate this, looking from the pile to the Doctor in both concern and confusion. Susan cautiously stared up at Za, pleading eyes the size of saucers. It was almost like she was physically making them bigger.

"Are you going to set us free?" she asked, voice soft. Za's face lost its determined expression for just a moment, before he shook his head and grunted.

"The tribe says you come from Orb. When you are returned to Him on the stone of death, we will have fire again." He practically cringed when Susan let out a cry, falling into Barbara's arms. He seemed to physically struggle with his next words, finally spitting out, " _But._ I believe you are from the mountains. And if... _if_ you show me how to make fire, I will take you back to the foot of the mountains. If you will not show me, I can do nothing to stop you dying on the old stone."

"Shh!" Jan snapped, "Susan, put more dead grass on it, I think it's beginning to work!"

"As you can see, we are making fire for you," the Doctor's smile was condescending.

Za crouched closer to Jan. "I am watching. You show me how to make fire."

"Get the rest of the tribe, they need to watch too. Then everybody can make fire," Jan said. Za huffed.

"Only one can be leader."

"That's not true," Jan shot back, hands shaking as she worked the sticks, "And in _our tribe_ , there is no firemaker. If there was, he would be the _least_ important man."

Za laughed, sitting back on his heels. "I do not believe this."

"It's true," the Doctor chimed in, arms crossed over her chest, "He is the least important because _everyone_ knows how to make fire."

"I hope he doesn't make us prove that," Susan murmured to Barbara, startled when Jan kicked her in the side to get her attention.

"It's working! Susan, blow gently, Barbara, you blow on the other side," Jan furiously rubbed the sticks and twine as Susan and Barbara leaned down on either side, blowing the pile until suddenly-

"Fire," Za whispered, staring into the little flame, " _Fire._ "

 

* * *

 

Horg and Hur stood at the entrance to the cave, watching the sun rise over the trees and the light creep toward the Old Stone. The air was brisk with morning, goosebumps rising on both of their arms through the furs. Horg sighed.

"Orb strikes the old stone in a short time, yet Za has not brought Friend and her tribe," he said. Hur didn't look at him, staring into the trees. "Hur, hear me. We have no food, no meat. No furs to keep us warm. And still no fire. Za should not be leader."

"Za would _kill_ you if he heard you speak like that!" Hur hissed, eyes glaring daggers, "He speaks to them now in the Cave of Skulls." Her gaze went back to the Old Stone, a scowl twisting at her mouth. "You should lay on the Old Stone until your blood runs into the earth, old man."

Horg closed his eyes for a moment, then put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Za is kind. Kind, like his mother. He is doing what she did; letting them go."

Hur jerked away from him, jaw clenching. "Lies. You lie, and you will die for it."

 

* * *

 

"You take this out and show your tribe, then let us go. We've done what you asked," Jan said, lighting a dry branch with the fire and handing it over to Za. He took it, staring in fascination. The flames cast dancing shadows on the walls of the cave, making his eyes look like they were glowing. The Doctor smacked his hand before he could try and touch it again.

"I already told you, don't touch it," she snapped, "I thought you said you had fire before us."

"My father made the fire with his hands, I..." Za trailed off, lowering the torch and looking toward the back wall. Cautiously, he stepped forward. "We are being watched."

"That's the passage the old woman let us through," Barbara said, indicating the darkness Za was staring into. Jan touched Barbara's arm.

"I heard something earlier, I thought it came from there."

"Could it be an animal?" Susan asked.

"Most likely, child," the Doctor tugged Susan away from the passage by the back of her shirt. "Za, can you see-"

A guttural roar echoed through the cave as a blur of a person leapt out from the passage and onto Za. The torch flew out of his hands into a pile of bones, sending a cascade of skulls tumbling down from the wall and making Susan scream. Za kicked and thrashed under the person, who was bashing his head against the floor of the cave.

"It's Kal!" Jan shouted to Barbara.

Za reached up and clawed at Kal's face, using the moment of surprise to kick him onto his back and crawl on top. Closing his fists on top of each other, Za smashed Kal in the face until he bled. Susan hid herself in the Doctor's arms. Za put his bloody hands around Kal's neck and leaned his full weight into it. Kal struggled for a moment, and then went still.

There was nothing but silence and stillness in the cave for a long minute.

Za stumbled to his feet, eyes wide and locked on Kal's dead form. Slowly, he picked up the torch and backed away from the body, almost in shock. After a moment, Jan swallowed and touched Za's arm.

"Let's go show the tribe."

"No," Za murmured, "No, you will stay here."

Jan looked like she was about to protest, but the Doctor shook her head, mouthing _don't_. When Za had left the cave, Jan looked at the Doctor incredulously.

"I should've gone with him."

"Give him a chance," the Doctor said, squeezing Susan tighter to her, "Let him show the tribe the fire, establish himself as leader, then he'll let us go."

"I sure do hope he does," Barbara said under her breath. The cave fell silent again.

 

* * *

 

Jan's watch had stopped working at some point, hands frozen at 2:44, and the Doctor's pocket watch was telling them things barely anyone could understand - _there's temporal disturbances!_ the Doctor said - and it didn't exactly help to tell how long they'd been in the cave.

It felt like hours.

The Doctor paced the room, muttering what was probably another escape strategy under her breath. Barbara gave up similar pacing when the blisters on her heels became unbearable. Susan played with Regis the skull with her back to the wall of bones, obviously trying to cover up the fact that she was holding back tears. Not having to concentrate on anything anymore, Jan could feel the pain in her ribs again, and she laid down with her head on Barbara's lap, taking shallow breaths.

There was one thought on all their minds; _the tribe was not going to let them go._

When the sound of the stone grinding away from the entrance filled the cave, everyone shot upright.

"Hello again," the Doctor said, no humor under her jovial tone. The cave woman - Hur - who they'd spent time with in the woods, walked forward with steaming meat piled on a flat rock. She smiled as she handed it to the Doctor.

"Za went to the forest. We have meat. There will be more food for your tribe and ours once the second group returns," she said. Jan watched the Doctor turn and put the meat down next to the fire. Hur nodded at her. "Friend. Your tribe will eat."

"Why are you keeping us here?" Jan ignored what Hur had said, leaning on the wall for support. Hur looked hurt.

"There is food."

"Please, let us go, it's _terrible_ in here!" Susan cried. Hur turned on her heel, then paused in the entry to the cave.

"Orb has been kind to us. We have fire now."

"Yes, you do," Jan scowled, marching toward Hur with rage in her eyes, "And I was the _idiot_ that gave it to you!"

The stone rolled back into place before Jan could swing at her, leaving her standing mere inches away. She stood there fuming, until a gentle hand wrapped around her elbow.

"Jan, we're _alive_ because you gave them fire. They would've killed us all if you hadn't."

Slowly, Jan turned and slid down the rock until she was on the floor.

 

* * *

 

Barbara was the first to touch the meat.

Jan and Susan were asleep, and the Doctor was kicking stones around while Barbara tended the fire.

She tentatively poked it at first with the end of the stick she was using to stoke the fire. It was still pretty raw, though they'd blackened the outside. Barbara could barely remember the last time she'd eaten. It felt like _ages_ ago.

A smile found her face as she remembered sitting with Patty and Myra in the teacher's lounge that afternoon, the radio playing behind them, the sound of Jackie's typewriter clicking from the room adjacent. The laughter over what Patty was saying; she was reading aloud a student's letter about why they hadn't done their homework, and they could all tell what utter bullshit it was.

Her smile quickly fell.

How much she took those things for granted. There were so many things left unsaid. If she'd known that would be the last time she saw Patty, she would've told her what a wonderful actress she was, and how much she admired her confidence. And she would've accepted Myra's invitation to be one of her bridesmaids instead of asking her to give her some time to think about it. And Jan...

Jan was here. Jan was with her. And that's something.

Barbara sighed and jabbed a piece of the meat onto the stick. She stuck it into the fire and turned it like a marshmallow, eventually pulling it out and waiting for it to stop smoking before hesitantly taking a bite.

She didn't even realize how hungry she was until she had food in her mouth, and before she knew it, the piece was gone and she was cooking another one.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor approached her and squatted down, eyes scanning the meat.

"I was hungry. Wake Susan and Jan, they've got to be hungry as well," Barbara swallowed another mouthful as the Doctor disappeared to wake the others.

Soon, the four of them were sitting around the fire, eating in half-silence. Jan turned her piece of meat in her hands, waggling it at Barbara with a raised eyebrow.

"What _is_ this?" she asked.

Barbara shrugged and looked away from her. "I'd prefer not to think about it. It's food, that's what it is. Just like anything we'd eat normally."

Jan snorted. "All the comforts of home, eh?"

The stone rolled aside and all four were back on their feet.

It was Za this time. He had a bowl-shaped rock in his hands, and when he put it down in front of them, they saw it was filled with water. He nodded at the meat they'd nearly finished.

"The animal was hard to kill, so the meat is good. I bring you water," he grunted, and another man came in with more meat, "Friend spoke true. One man is not stronger than the whole tribe. We hunt together, and bring back more meat. Meat for your tribe and for ours. Have they hurt you? Are you all safe?"

"When are you planning on letting us go, hmm?" the Doctor asked, arms crossed over her chest. Za shook his head.

"Our tribes will join together," he said. Jan couldn't stop herself from scoffing. Za glared. "There is nothing better over the mountains where you came from! You are safe here!"

"We don't _want_ to stay here, we want to go home!" Barbara's voice broke, and Jan steadied her with an arm around her shoulders.

"Do not try to leave here," Za left them alone again.

As soon as the stone had ground shut, the Doctor stamped her foot in anger. "Douse the fire! Put it out, take it away from them! Scare them, somehow! Do _something!_ "

"What if I put Regis on a stick and light the stick on fire!" Susan ran to grab the skull puppet she'd reconstructed, and lit a torch to put him on. She jiggled it up and down a few times to make the jaw move, and giggled. "Oh, he really is scary, isn't he! Look at him, Miss Wright!"

"Susan, you're an absolute _genius!_ " Jan shouted.

"What?"

"We'll get four skulls, and as many bones as we can to make a human form-" she began searching through the piles of bones, "Then we use the meat they just brought us! And we spread the fire with more sticks, and..." she pulled a mostly-intact skull out of the pile triumphantly. Susan stepped forward.

"And?"

" _And_ ," Jan's eyes gleamed in the fire light, "For all intents and purposes, we are going to die."

 

* * *

 

Hot and cramped, they watched from within the passage the old woman had shown them, waiting. Jan had rehashed the plan so many times it was etched in all their memories.

_When they next open the stone, they'll see the burning bodies. When word gets around, either all the tribe will come to see what happened, or they will be assumed dead and the guard Za had posted at the exit of the secret passage will become useless and no longer need to keep his post. One way or another, Susan would let them know when the guard had left, and then they would make their escape._

"Your plan relies heavily on the assumption these cave men are stupid, Miss Chesterton," the Doctor whispered, and Jan shushed her. "What will we do if they don't fall for it, hmm?"

"Will you _hush?_ "

The grinding of the stone stopped the Doctor from commenting further, making both women watch with wide eyes. It was Hur who came this time, carrying fruit on a rock. When she saw the blazing bodies, she let out an absolutely blood curdling scream.

Sure enough, then came Barbara tugging on Jan's pant leg to let her know Susan gave the cue, and the scream had alerted the man posted to guard the entrance, and he was currently coming to see what was wrong.

Jan elbowed the Doctor, mouthing _let's go._

 

* * *

 

Za growled and kicked one of the burning skeletons across the room.

"You are all fools!" he bellowed, "This is nothing but bones and the meat we gave them! While you were all looking at their fire, they have gone! Escaped into the night!"

Hur gasped through another cry of shock. "The night will hide them, we will never find them in the dark!"

Za had picked up a torch, though, and had murder in his eyes. "With fire," he said, lifting the torch in the air, "It does not have to be night." He took up another stick and thrust it into Hur's hands. "We made offers of peace and this is what they give us!? They are a bad tribe! We gave them peace and they gave us nothing in return! We will find them and hunt them, and roast their meat over a fire! _OUR FIRE!_ "

A roar went up through the others, and Za led them all out through the cave with torches in their hands, ready to kill.

 

* * *

 

"Move, move, move, go, go!" the Doctor ushered everyone up the slope of the plain they'd landed on, hearing the battle cries of the tribe growing louder and louder. She could see their torches nearing the edge of the forest. Unlooping the TARDIS key from around her neck, she picked up her pace.

The cave men broke the tree line, and were gaining on them with every second they ran. The Doctor practically slammed into the side of the TARDIS with her momentum, and cursed as the key argued with the lock, flinging open the door once it finally found its way in.

Susan ran past, Barbara made it in, and the Doctor tugged Jan inside by the front of her shirt just as one of the cave men slashed at her with his knife. She slammed the door in his face.

"Doctor, get us out of here!" Barbara cried, falling to her knees as the TARDIS pitched; the monitor showed the cave men trying to topple it on its side. "Doctor, hurry!"

"I'm trying!" the Doctor yelled, splayed half across the console as she tried to operate the controls. "THERE!"

The TARDIS disappeared, screeching, into space.

Everything was quiet, the hum of the console room and the occasional sound of electronics being the only noise.

Jan collapsed in the chair Barbara had woken up in, face dead of all expression as she stared blankly ahead. Barbara didn't get up from where she'd fallen to her knees, similarly catatonic. Susan set Regis the skull on a shelf against the wall that was filled with all sorts of other strange but similar knick-knacks, then joined her grandmother at the controls.

No one spoke for quite some time. Susan and the Doctor silently walked around the console, occasionally turning knobs and flicking switches, and if she didn't know any better, Barbara would say it looked like they were doing it at random.

Finally, Susan pointed at a small screen in front of her. "It's beginning to match up, I think we might be materializing."

"Oh, good," the Doctor muttered, "At least we're landing. Perhaps we'll be more careful this time."

Jan was snapped out of her daze, and stood up on wobbly legs. "You've taken us back to our time, I hope?"

"Well, actually, I..." the Doctor said something under her breath that was incomprehensible to anyone not directly beside her, then looked back up, "Of course I haven't. Please try to be reasonable."

"What!?" Barbara cried, "No, no, you must take us back!"

"You put us through hell back there, Doctor, the least you can do is take us back home!"

" _Please_ , Doctor, you must!"

"Don't you understand!? I _can't!_ " the Doctor finally shouted, slamming her hands down on the console, "I can't take you back home. This thing isn't operating properly, there's- there's precise information- _data_ that you put in before you operate it so you can go to a specific time, _location-_ but- you see, I've no information like that at my disposal!"

Barbara blinked slowly, feeling her throat tighten. "You mean... you've no idea how to operate this thing?"

"Please, Miss Wright, don't blame grandmother," Susan walked over and crouched down next to Barbara, taking her hands into her own, "We left our home so very quickly, you have to understand."

"Have you at least tried to take us back to our time?" Jan didn't mean for her voice to come out so angry this time, but it did. The Doctor let out a _hmph_. "Doctor, did you try and take us back to _our time?_ "

"I got you away from _that_ time, didn't I?"

"That's _not_ what I asked you."

"Well it's the only answer you're going to get, young lady."

Before Jan could respond, Susan stood up and rushed to the controls again. "Grandmother, look at the monitor! The vortex is disappearing, we're landing!"

"Now, let's see where we are!" the Doctor tore her gaze from Jan and toward the monitor, squinting, "Oh dear, it seems to be a forest. Perhaps a forest. Is that what it looks like to you, Susan?"

"I'd say it's a forest."

"Dear, dear, dear, that's no help at all. Oh, I wish this damned locator would work, that'd be awfully nice. Just to let us know where the hell we are," the Doctor grumbled, smacking the side of another device. "I'd suggest we go out and explore, but I believe we all have a bit of cleaning up to do. No use poking our noses around if we look like a bunch of ruffians, is there?"

"I suppose..." Barbara let out a choked laugh, "I suppose I could use a quick shower, couldn't I?"

"Perhaps longer than just a quick one," Jan pushed her shoulder playfully, earning a smack.

"Ah, and Miss Chesterton, I believe your ribs are due for a gel strip or two. Susan, will you show her to the medical bay?" the Doctor said, waving her hand around.

"Of course!" she bounced toward Jan, grabbing her hand and pulling, "C'mon, Miss Chesterton, I'll show you the med bay! It's straight out of Star Trek, you'll love it!"

"Straight out of _what?_ "

"Oh, Susan, dear, check the radiation. I can't read that damn thing for shit," the Doctor said, tucking a monocle back into her pocket.

"It is reading..." Susan leaned back around the console, then smiled, "Normal, grandmother!"

"Good, good! That's what I like to hear. Now, Miss Wright, I'll show you to where you can get cleaned up."

"I hope you've got a change of clothes for me too..."

As the four left the control room, the hum of the console began to get louder, more shrill. The walls became brighter, like a warning beacon.

The radiation meter spiked into the danger zone.

**Author's Note:**

> me @ me: great! now die


End file.
